Review: Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks at Chichester Festival Theatre - a powerful insight into the Battle of the Somme

For anyone who feels that life is throwing too many challenges at them, this play should be required viewing.

It is a stark reminder of the sheer horror and extraordinary bravery of those that fought in the Battle of the Somme – for their land, for their country, for their King, and for their God.

It is as powerful a picture that you could hope to see of why we stand in silence for two minutes at 11am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month every year.

The very few lucky ones survived the war with life and limbs intact – but even they were to be haunted and disturbed for the rest of their days by what they saw on the battlefield, in the trenches and in the miles of tunnels 60 feet underground.

The sheer length of this play alone adds to its gravitas and while the subject matter is as bleak as one could ever encounter, the unspoken optimism in Faulks’ novel shines through.

With two intervals and neatly compartmentalised within them, it tells of young Englishman Stephen Wraysford (the excellent James Esler) who goes to France to visit a factory on behalf of his guardian to assess it for potential investment.

There he falls in love and embarks on an affair with the beautiful Isabelle Azaire (Charlie Russell), the wife of the brutal factory owner – the memory of which sustains him through the darkness of the war.

If the first section lacks pace and feels slightly disjointed, by the second we are swept along by the humour and humanity of the men in the trenches.

Consequently by its conclusion this production is pitch perfect – holding the audience in its thrall and reminding us all that whatever our day holds it is unlikely to be as bad as theirs.