Not About Heroes - Past Productions

Past Productions

Not About Heroes had its première at the Edinburgh Festival in 1982 and won a Fringe First award. Directed by Eric Standidge, Sassoon was played by the author and Owen by David Learner. It toured and came to the King's Head, was adapted for Yorkshire TV and BBC Radio 4, and was published by Faber and Faber, all in 1983. A new production at the Royal National Theatre in 1986 celebrated the centenary of Sassoon's birth. A national tour took place the following year with Paul Shelley as Siegfried Sassoon and Stephen McGann as Wilfred Owen. In 1992, the author directed a revised text for the Citizen's, Glasgow - a production which afterwards was seen in Shrewsbury as part of the celebrations marking the centenary of Owen's birth.

A production by Dianne Wiest at the Williamstown Theatre Fesival transferred to New York City in 1985. Edward Herrmann and Dylan Baker both won OBIE awards. The 1987 Stratford Ontario production, with Nicholas Pennell and Henry Czerny, was revived the following year. Not About Heroes was also performed in the early 1990s at The Round House Theatre in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC.

Stephen McGann played Owen in a production at the Oxford Playhouse in 1987, opposite Paul Shelley as Sassoon. Jonas Armstrong played Owen in a 2000 production at the Edinburgh Fringe.

In October/November 2008, Rowan Tree Theatre Co. in the Scottish Borders, mounted a production of the play to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War and in celebration of the company's twenty first birthday. One performance was given in Craiglockhart Hospital, the site of the actual meeting of the two poets. Sassoon was played by Oliver Bisset, and Owen by Matthew Burgess. The play was directed by John Haswell and produced by Judy Steel, wife of Lord Steel, the Liberal politician.

Notable productions of Not About Heroes in recent years have included a version mounted for the 2002 Hay-on-Wye literary festival, starring Roger Moss and Owen Sheers. It was directed by Cathy Gill and produced by the novelist, Louis de Bernières. The following year, Peter Dickson and Andrew Butterworth starred in a production at the Crescent Theatre, Birmingham. In 2005 MADHouse Productions staged a poignant version in the intimate surroundings of the Barons Court Theatre in west London. This production starred Dov Citron as Sassoon and Martin Scully as Owen and was directed by Ian Flintoff. RGP Productions produced the play in Sydney, followed by a season at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra in 2007, starring Roger Gimblett as Sassoon and Patrick Magee as Owen, with direction by Carla Moore. The play was again broadcast on BBC Radio 7 in November 2007 and November 2008.