Skip to main content
Toffs at each other’s throats
Never too far from a farce this ideological enmity gets a serious meaning on the WWI battlefields of Flanders, writes MAYER WAKEFIELD
TOFFING IT OUT: Joe Gill as Keith Rae and Nikolas Salmon as Billy Grenfell

Into Battle
Greenwich Theatre

 

HUGH SALMON’S debut is a play of two distinct halves welded together by the extraordinary real-life experiences of its characters which far surpasses its billing as “the true story of a bitter feud at Oxford University.”
 
The first half is fundamentally concerned with the battle of ideas taking place in the upper echelons of British society at the beginning of the 20th century. The battle is causing ruptures in Balliol College where Etonian toffs are running riot while in the background the House of Lords have just voted to block Asquith’s “People’s Budget.”

It’s difficult to ignore the ironic relevance over a century on.

The often drunk and always irksome Billy Grenfell (Nikolas Salmon) trashes the halls while his virtuous “chief opponent” Keith Rae (Joe Gill) is establishing a Boys’ Club to bridge the social divide between the college and the slums of Oxford.  

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You can read five articles for free every month,
but please consider supporting us by becoming a subscriber.
More from this author
(L to R) Arian Nik as Samir, Shazia Nicholls as Faiza) Sabrina Sandhu as Harleen
Culture / 15 April 2025
15 April 2025
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
AWKWARD HOMOGENISING OF RCIAL GROUPS: Gershwyn Eustache Jnr
Theatre Review / 3 March 2025
3 March 2025
MAYER WAKEFIELD wonders why this 1978 drama merits a revival despite demonstrating that the underlying theme of racism in the UK remains relevant
(L) Playwright Richard Bean; (R) John Hollingworth as Donald
Interview / 5 November 2024
5 November 2024
MAYER WAKEFIELD speaks to playwright Richard Bean about his new play Reykjavik that depicts the exploitation of the Hull-based “far-fleet” trawlermen
IS THERE AN IMPERIALIST IN THE ROOM? Davinia Hamilton in Bla
Theatre Review / 5 May 2023
5 May 2023
MAYER WAKEFIELD finds himself caught in the crossfire during a riveting piece of activist theatre
Similar stories
round up
Cinema / 1 May 2025
1 May 2025

Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade, Parthenope, Where Dragons Live and Thunderbolts* reviewed by MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE

(L to R) Arian Nik as Samir, Shazia Nicholls as Faiza) Sabrina Sandhu as Harleen
Culture / 15 April 2025
15 April 2025
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
NO THRILLS: East is South at Hampstead Theatre
Theatre review / 19 February 2025
19 February 2025
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a play about AI that results in a deadening disconnect for its audience
CAMPUS ACTIVISM: Phoebe Campbell in Alma Mater
Theatre review / 18 July 2024
18 July 2024
MARY CONWAY evaluates a polemical play whose actors, rather than the writer, introduce the humanity and the light and shade