Journey’s End An Introduction

The Form of a Play DISCUSS What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a theatrical play to present the horrors of World War One?

You may have come up with…. Advantages: Provides immediacy, as the audience experience the action live. Theatre is very visual, helping the reader to engage with characters and events. Theatre can create a greater sense of suspense and drama. Music and sound effects can add to the tension and drama and help the reader to imagine what war was like. Disadvantages: It would be almost impossible to show no-man’s land and the actual fighting in a realistic way. There is a limit to how many locations you can have due to scenery and set changes. Unless you are at the very front of the audience, it is not always possible to see facial expressions and fully understand the feelings of characters. What else have you come up with?

Setting the Scene Look at the detailed scene information on page 8. Quickly sketch and label how the stage would look. How has Sherriff managed to deal with some of the issues that we noted were disadvantages of the play form?

While Reading… Annotate your text as you go along. Look for the following: References to shell-shock / symptoms Aspects relating to the horror/reality of war Any similarities you notice with Regeneration. Start to write key words at the top of the page – e.g. the name s of characters on the page etc. This will help you to find specific parts of the text more quickly later on.