MARKING the centenary of the First World War, Pat Barker’s Booker-nominated novel, Regeneration, has been adapted for the stage by Olivier Award-winning playwright Nicholas Wright (His Dark Materials, Vincent in Brixton). It runs at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham from October 21-25.

Regeneration is a compellingly compassionate look at war and the devastating after effect it had on a generation of young men.

Challenging definitions of sanity itself, the play dramatically explores the effects of war and of one man’s battle to honour both his conscience and duty to his fellow man.

The play examines the insanity of war with shocking clarity; a powerful anthem for the youth of the First World War and the lives of young soldiers today.

In July 1917, in an open letter to The Times newspaper, Siegfried Sassoon made a passionate denunciation of both the war’s aims and the strategy of the generals. The army, reluctant to court martial Sassoon, decided instead to commit him to a military psychiatric hospital in Edinburgh, where he was incarcerated until he was ‘cured’.

At the hospital, Craiglockhart, Sassoon is ‘treated’ by Dr W.H. Rivers, a pioneering psychiatrist in the treatment of what we now call post traumatic stress disorder. There, Sassoon also meets and befriends another patient, fellow poet, Wilfred Owen.

Among the outstanding cast are Stephen Boxer as Captain Rivers (The Honourable Woman, Foyle’s War, Death in Paradise and Luther); Christopher Brandon as Robert Graves and Tim Delap as Siegfried Sassoon (Black Mirror – Be Right Back, Doctors and Foyle’s War).

Evenings, Monday to Saturday, 7.45pm; matinees, Thursday and Saturday, 2pm.

The Wednesday evening performance will be captioned and audio description services will be available for the Thursday matinee.

It is recommended for ages 14+ For tickets and further information visit www.everymantheatre.org.uk