There’s one scene where several characters are waiting until they must go over the dugout and into no man’s land, and each minute is excruciatingly counted down. i knew from the start that Raleigh was going to die (the young, naive golden boy who is excited about war for some reason), but it was still sad. Perhaps most fascinating is the psychological identification Sherriff must have felt with the disintegrating Stanhope and to a lesser extent the demoralised Hibbert, who pretends to have neuralgia. The trenches are dirty, smelly, ratty, but they manage to take tea, eat bacon, drink (a lot) and just converse like ordinary fellows gathered together down at the local pub.

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This intense experience profoundly affected his writing and, through his play, it continues to have a powerful influence on our understanding of the conflict. He leaves the dugout, and the play concludes with a bomb hitting the dugout and burying Raleigh’s body. It might seem obvious to provide a detailed account of the wartime experiences that Sherriff drew on and the impact and influence of his play: half a million saw it in the West End following its 1928 premiere and within a year of opening it had been performed by 76 companies in 25 languages, including Japanese and German. This play deals with the horror and futility of trench warfare, as Captain Stanhope and his officers await attack in their dugout.In Spring of 1918, a handful of British officers rooted in a trench while awaiting an offensive by the Boche share a lifetime of dreams, fears, and conflicted emotions during 48 hours preceding a fateful attack. Sherriff never takes the story out of the dugout, as somebody is always telling as to what took place in the trenches or on the battlefield. Set in British trenches during the First World War, this play deals with the horror and futility of trench warfare, as Captain Stanhope and his officers await attack in their dugout.