The Morning Star

Set in the London of 1940, this poignant and touchingly sentimental play tells the story of how one family comes to terms with the harsh realities of war. There is Mrs Parrilow, the archetypal English gentlewoman, her son Cliff, and idealistic and intelligent young doctor and sometime novelist, whose marriage to Alison is not surviving the stressful separation inevitably caused by the war, and the other members of the household, S.D., a distiguished ex-doctor, his batman Brimbo and Mrs Lane, the char. Over a period of several weeks, the tragedies of such difficult times are brought home to all of them to a greater or lesser degree, but, in the end, they rise above it all, for, as Cliff says, buildings can burn and "our lives can crash before our eyes, there'll be that we can be sure of, for ever - our love and trust, and courage - as long as we stick together and fight".