Cast announced for world premiere of INTO BATTLE at Greenwich Theatre

Casting has been announced for the world premiere of Hugh Salmon’s moving, affecting and humorous debut play Into Battle, which runs at Greenwich Theatre from 7-31 October 2021. 

TV Favourite Iain Fletcher (The Bill) plays the real-life figure Revd. Neville Talbot who steers audiences through the play based on the true story of a bitter feud at Oxford University.

In 1906, of the fifty-three freshers who went up to Balliol college Oxford, eighteen had been to Eton.  By 1910 they had formed an exclusive group, including the future war poets Hon. Julian Grenfell and Patrick Shaw Stuart.  Standing up to the behaviour of the Etonians were socially aware Keith Rae and future England rugby international Ronald Poulton, who were dedicated to improving the lives of the poor and hungry on the back streets of Oxford. By 1912, the feud has polarised Keith Rase and Hon. Billy Grenfell on an individual level.  After an incident between then Billy is sent down for a year, disgracing his aristocratic mother Lady Ettie Desborough.  Finally, Into Battle reveals the differences between Keith and Billy, and their destinies are resolved in the face of a far greater adversity.

Fletcher will be joined on stage by Anna Bradley as Florence Smith/Walter Perkins, Alexander Knox as Patrick Shaw Stewart,  Gabriel Freilich as Hon. Julian Grenfell, Joe Gill as Keith Rae, Molly Gaisford as Lady Ettie Desborough, Nik Salmon as Hon. Billy Grenfell and Sam Barrett as Ronald Poulton-Palmer.

James Hadrell, Artistic Director at Greenwich Theatre said: “We are delighted to be hosting the world premiere of Into Battle at Greenwich Theatre. Once in a generation, a new play comes to London which transcends time and place and brings historical events and people back to life on a human level”. 

Carefully researched over ten years by writer Hugh Salmon, Into Battle will be directed by Ellie Jones, with design by Ellen Cairns, lighting by Alexandra Stafford, sound by James Cook and costumes by Leah Mulhern. 

Into Battle unearths a true story that has been buried for over 100 years: a story which shows how the political and social divisions tearing Britain apart were reflected in a ‘bitter feud’ at Balliol College Oxford.

Told with wit and humour, Into Battle exposes the inequalities of life and shows how human beings can be brought together by adversity.  

For more information and to book tickets, please click here.