"Journey's End"

The Goldfields Repertory Club’s 2007 season is set to commence with a bang – quite literally. R C Sherriff’s powerful World War One drama “Journey’s End” debuts to the public from February 23rd – and in a special charity performance for the RSL on Thursday February 22nd.

The stage at the Brookman Street Theatre has been completely transformed to a British bunker in St Quentin, right before the battle of the Somme. And to add to the excitement – the GRC production and a revived Broadway production of the show are OPENING ON THE SAME DAY!!! So don’t travel that far, just come to Kalgoorlie. It’s closer!

Directed by Kevin Blair and starring a cast of 11 local men, this moving piece will be played out over nine nights each Thursday, Friday and Saturday until March 10. Something different, bold and challenging. This will be a play that people will be talking about for months to come.

Based on Sheriff's own experiences in the Great War, the play is set in a trench in St. Quentin, France, as a group of British officers await their day of reckoning. The young Captain Stanhope (David Holle) tries to galvanize his men as they prepare to raid the enemy across No Man's Land.

Meanwhile, his company is joined by his old school friend Raleigh (Shannon Robertson), who finds his one-time hero much changed. Journey's End was first performed in 1929 with Laurence Olivier playing the leading role of Stanhope and later produced in the West End. It was also made into a film starring James Whale.

This engrossing story focuses on the relationships between the men in a platoon based on the front as they prepare to take part in one of the last major pushes against Germany. A study of men under pressure, it is also a powerful anti-war document and remains relevant today. The story of men at war may hark from a bygone era, but the same sense of futility, loss and bravery against nonsensical policy, lies at its heart.

Starring (in order of appearance):
Tim Sadleir as Captain Hardy
Brett Thomas as Lieutenant Osborne
Ben Anderson as Private Mason
James Parker as Lance-Corporal Broughton
Shannon Robertson as 2nd Lieutenant Raleigh
David Holle as Captain Stanhope
Travis Hooper as 2nd Lieutenant Trotter
Andrew Smith as 2nd Lieutenant Hibbert
Shaun Wipers as The Company Sergeant Major
Phillip Morgan as The Colonel
Greg Herron as A German Soldier

All performances will be at the Brookman Street Theatre, 7 Brookman Street, Kalgoorlie Doors and bar open at 7.30pm; curtain opens 8pm sharp! Tickets are $17 adults $13 for GRC members and concession card holders

Please also check out www.tazpublicity.com for more details and travel options to Kalgoorlie.