Into Battle
Click on right here for tickets
Into Battle is a brand new play by Hugh Salmon which reveals the true story of Keith Rae and the Hon. Billy Grenfell who fought a ‘bitter feud’ at Oxford College within the years main as much as World Conflict One however have been destined to die combating alongside one another for a similar regiment in the identical battle on the identical day (30 July 1915). It has been described as ‘Downton Abbey goes to warfare’.
Into Battle finds a real story that has been buried for over 100 years: a narrative revealing the political and social divisions tearing Britain aside within the early years of the twentieth century.
In 1906, of the fifty-three freshers who went as much as Balliol School, Oxford College, eighteen had been educated at Eton. By 1910 that they had fashioned an unique group, together with the long run warfare poets, the Hon. Julian Grenfell and Patrick Shaw Stewart. Standing as much as the behaviour of the Etonians have been the socially conscious Keith Rae and England rugby worldwide Ronald Poulton, who have been devoted to enhancing the lives of the poor and hungry within the again streets of Oxford.
By 1912, the feud has polarised to Keith Rae and Hon. Billy Grenfell on a person degree. After an incident between them, Billy is distributed down for a yr, disgracing his aristocratic mom Woman Ettie Desborough. Lastly, Into Battle reveals that the variations between Keith and Billy, and their destinies, are resolved within the face of a far larger adversity.
The play takes its title ‘Into Battle’ from a poem by Julian Grenfell which describes the inspiration {that a} soldier can take from nature within the quiet contemplative moments earlier than battle. It was revealed posthumously and loved nice success throughout WW1.
“However Day shall clasp him with sturdy arms, And Evening shall fold him in smooth wings.”
First produced at Greenwich Theatre in 2021, Into Battle stars Gabriel Freilich because the Hon. Julian Grenfell, Nikolas Salmon as Billy Grenfell, Joe Gill as Keith Rae, Sam Barrett as Ronald Poulton and Molly Gaisford as Woman Ettie Desborough. It’s directed by Ellie Jones.
Learn extra
