Regeneration at Richmond Theatre

After my afternoon walk in Hammersmith and Chiswick I pushed on further into West London for dinner and theatre with Nigel in Richmond. We had already established our favourite eaterie for this sort of expedition, the Duke. After a very pleasant drink and two-course dinner we advanced to the theatre itself to our exclusive lobby. I had booked premium tickets which gave us access to what was the equivalent of the executive lounge, along with complimentary nibbles and a glass of prosecco. We liked this. Worth the small premium.

Nigel quickly realised he had read the book that this play was based upon. By the end he recalled that it was I who had lent it to him.

Pat Barker's book on a 1st world war sanitorium is, sadly rather more dramatic in my view than the play. The play was fine, but just not as good as the book. I know its easy to say that, but I think my point is well-founded. One of the problems with the play is the large number of screen changes required.  It just makes the story rather too bitty. And the dialogue just doesn't work as well - it just isn't quite as shocking as the book.

If you haven't read it, it is set in a hospital for those with mental issues brought on by their experiences in the Trenches. It focuses on fictional accounts of two real soldiers, the war poets Sassoon and Owen. What we see is largely the sessions with their kindly doctor, who has the disagreeable task of trying to cure them of their various psychoses, only to patch them up to return to the horrors from which they had come. Not a cheery story, but its a subtle novel/play, not just some anti-was polemic.