Not About Heroes

Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen were officers in the British army and have been called the best British poets of the “Great War.” The play, based on letters and memoirs, imagines their meeting in a psychiatric hospital–where one was admitted for shell shock, the other for speaking out against the war. As the older Sassoon nurtures Owen in the early stages of his poetic career, they discuss how to write honest poetry about war. As their relationship deepens and they debate whether to return to the trenches, there is one thing they do not face honestly. Eventually, Owen decides he must return to combat. What makes him go back?