Our Boys

This play, set in 1984, concerns five young soldiers, among them veterans of the troubles in Northern Ireland and the Hyde Park bombing, who are killing nothing but time in a quiet ward of the Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital, with television, games, pornography, bragging one-upmanship and cynical humour as their only means of mental escape. Tensions arise when a young officer is billeted with them, and a bitter, savage war of words, only just disguised as humour, is waged against him. After an hilarious birthday party, into which several cans of beer have been smuggled, the six find themselves facing charges of misconduct - and then the fighting really starts. Fired by the author's anger at the Army's neglect of its wounded heroes, the play is a perceptive and surprisingly tender work.