With his wife now dead after a long illness, theatre producer Randolph Laine decides that he needs to get back on the road and plans to form a theatre company. Britain being in the second year of a world war seems only a small distraction.
Randolph manages to acquire the money to fund the tour and pulls a company together – a disparate bunch, with their own histories that will come to the fore. They decamp to the east coast to perform a farce, and are joined by Billy Pryce, a young deserter, not long back from Dunkirk. His presence makes the mood of the company even more fractious than before. Do they hide the lad or turn him in?
Original, witty and ultimately tragic, Theatre of War is a captivating novel on the futility of war and the importance of theatre and art in difficult times.
''A novel full of laughter and tears. It transports us between the theatrical masks of Comedy and Tragedy'' Ian Talbot OBE, actor and director
''Evocative, authentic and wistful'' Michael Simkins, actor and author
''It really does ring true... it would make an excellent film'' Peter Purves, actor and television presenter
