NICHOLAS Wright’s stage adaptation of Pat Barker’s First World War trilogy is timed exactly right in this centenary year, with an awareness demonstrated by the number of younger people in the audience.

Second Lt. Siegfried Sassoon (Tim Delap) has submitted to his CO a statement suggesting the war is being deliberately prolonged by those with the power to end it. Rather than a court-martial, Sassoon is sent to a military hospital, assumed to be suffering a mental breakdown. This effectively removes the threat of publicity, as mental illness is considered largely due to weakness.

In hospital Sassoon forms a close father-son relationship with his psychiatrist, Captain Rivers (Stephen Boxer), who is ahead of his time in treating victims of war trauma by encouraging them to relate their experiences. Sassoon also meets fellow officer and would-be poet Wilfred Owen (Garmon Rhys), a vulnerable young man, who is grateful for Sassoon’s patronage and friendship.

The irony for Rivers is that he is helping men overcome the symptoms of their trauma in order to return them to the front line which is the cause, and the futility of this is emphasised in a conversation he has with Sassoon after the war, when he relates Wilfred Owen’s death in France.

The play’s dialogue is rich and absorbing; these are men who delight in language and express themselves fluently. The acting is seamless and the technicalities, particularly the lighting and sound effects, create an atmosphere of barely-hidden terror as each man struggles with his searing memories, maintaining the stiff upper lip at all costs.

Until Saturday. Box Office: 01325-486555

Sue Heath