On its first appearance in 2007 at Stratford’s Swan Theatre, Days of Significance was presented in promenade style by director Maria Aberg, with the audience in the midst of the action.

You had to move fast to avoid the flying fists and feet, and the risk of being splashed by beer, urine and vomit. At least the Playhouse audiences this week are spared these dangers; but viewed from the stalls Roy Williams’s take on modern Britain remains pretty strong meat. There are scenes of violence both at home and abroad – for the action follows a group of squaddies to the streets of Basra – from which I felt compelled to avert my gaze.

Lasting 110 minutes without interval, the emotionally draining drama – still under Ms Aberg’s control – makes compelling, if at times dispiriting, viewing. Though the play has been extensively revised by Mr Williams, the size of the cast, and their similar attitudes and (in some cases) appearance, means the action remains hard to follow at times. Emerging loud and clear, though, is the writer’s opposition to Britain’s involvement in the war against Saddam. This is eloquently expressed – perhaps a little unconvincingly as a result of that eloquence – by the one member of the group who has bothered to think about it. Dan (Luke Norris) is openly – and bravely – contemptuous of his mates who enlisted.

The first section shows the leisure time activities of the soldiers, their friends and their girls, in an unnamed town in southern England. This can be summed up simply: boozing, brawling, bonking – and then more boozing. This applies to the girls, as to the boys.

In the second section we witness a dangerous mission in Basra, where the central characters Ben (Toby Wharton) and Jamie (George Rainsford) find their platoon under attack and their sergeant (Mark Theodore) seriously wounded.

The final scene returns us to Britain, and the wedding of two members of the group, at which the repercussions of the lads’ activities in Iraq are explored. We learn, shockingly, of the effects on their lives and on those of their respective girlfriends, cousins Trish (Sarah Ridgeway) and Hannah (Joanna Horton).

Until Saturday. Box office tel. 01865 305305 (www.oxfordplayhouse.com)