Theatre preview (UK): All Quiet On The Western Front

The title of Erich Maria Remarque's great anti-war novel about German soldiers fighting in the first world war comes from a news report in October 1918 just a month before the end of the war. But as Remarque's novel demonstrates, even when all was reported quiet, men were being slaughtered. Robin Kingsland's stage adaptation tells the story of Paul who - influenced by the patriotic fervour of his school teacher - enlists in the German army, aged just 19. A tale of lost innocence and lost lives, the play follows Paul through the war as he confronts the horrors of the trenches and no man's land and deals with death as his friends are gradually killed. Giles Croft's production was first seen in 2006 and is now revived with a new cast - headed by James Alexandrou (EastEnders' Martin Fowler) - offering another poignant reminder that there are no winners in war.