First performed in 1928, R.C.Sheriff's now classic treatment of the Great War, Journey's End, is revived on the 89th Anniversary of the second Battle of the Somme, and will feel instantly familiar in tone and sensibility to anyone who has read the poets of the War, particularly Wilfred Owen. Although the play suffers from a school textbook quality - it is easy to see why it is taught as an almost historical account of trench warfare - Ashley Harvey has directed with a mature and human touch.

The outstanding performance of the night comes from Edward Blagrove as Capt Stanhope, the disabused hero of the play. Brave, inspirational, alcoholic and violent, he is riveting. Ably supported by Andrew Blagrove as loyal Lieut Osborne, his energy and confidence are tremendous. But the dramatic interaction with the most force is that between Stanhope and Lieut Raleigh (Emrys Matthews). Raleigh, Stanhope's devotee from his school days, now threatens everything that he has gained in the war. The boy's youthful enthusiasm, his ability to "think of it romantically", as Osborne puts it, threatens Stanhope's tough shell. Raleigh represents everything about the war that Stanhope has come to despise - misguided youth, romantic enthusiasm, naivety, and wilful hero-worship. It is their interaction which animates the play and makes this production exceptional. All credit to the actors for their understanding of the roles.

Costa Cambinakis's use of sound and light to suggest the terror and silence of war is praiseworthy, as is Roger Blagrove's set design, evoking both the claustrophobic domesticity of the green and pleasant land and the amniotic safety of the dugout, threatened, on stage right, by the gaping hell mouth which leads to the trenches.

Shaw called this play a "useful corrective to the romantic conception of war". BMH's production is as unromantic as the text allows, and neither bores nor descends into the jingoistic melodrama which might have been expected of the play and the occasion. This is a well-rounded production, and well worth catching.