Back in 2003, there was a flurry of theatrical activity protesting against the invasion of Iraq. Much of that activity has dissipated, but Two's Company's Forgotten Voices from the Great War project has kept the flame alive, reviving lost plays from the era. Its latest piece is based on the unpublished letters home from the front written by Havilland Le Mesurier, a young officer who bounded into war like a puppy running after a stick.
Lem, as he was known to his family, initially treated the first world war like a jolly jape, and at first the war was kind to him, too - for Lem and his fellow officers, it was one long dinner party in the French countryside, made all the pleasanter by the steady arrival of Fortnum & Mason hampers and the ready availability of Châteauneuf du Pape 1836. Like Barrie's Peter Pan, there is a sense in which - with the blithe invincibility of the young - Lem believes that death will be an awfully big adventure.
But as Lem was soon to discover, war is no picnic, and as 1915 turned into 1916 the tone of the letters changed; the struggle to remain cheerful amid mud, rats and sudden violent death became harder to maintain. He was killed in August 1916 and, as was expected of him, he "died splendidly".
To be honest, this one-man show is more interesting as a social document than as theatre, even though Philip Desmeules gives a wonderfully direct and appealing performance. But if this show tells you little you might not already know, it is a vivid and touching account of what it was like to be young and have everything to live for in a time of war.
· Until Friday. Box office: 020-7240 6283. Then touring.
