Not About Heroes

From the press release:

"Not About Heroes is a hauntingly beautiful play about the brief but deep friendship between two of the World War 1 poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. They meet at Craiglockhart War Hospital for Nervous Disorders, Owen suffering from neurasthenia and Sassoon from 'insanity' having publicly denounced the war. Drawn together by their poetry, we witness the deepening love between these two complex men, and the gradual maturing of Owen's poetry as the friendship grows.

"The force of this play owes much to its factual accuracy. Using their letters, memoirs and poems, the play explores, simply and movingly, the nature of love and compassion at a time of hatred, futility and death. But overwhelming all is the poetry. And the power of poetry...In Owen's immortal words:

"'This book is not about heroes. My subject is war, and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity.'"

This production also toured to Tasmania (10-22 October) and The Playhouse in Canberra (14-24 November).