One of the saddest and most iniquitous episodes of the First World War was the execution of shell-shocked soldiers, driven out of their minds by the horrors of the trenches, yet accused of cowardice or desertion.

Witham Dramatic Club’s performance of Private Peaceful is both moving and harrowing, and brings home those horrors.

Featuring an unusually large cast of 16 actors, it centres on brothers Tommo and Charlie Peaceful, who like many others volunteer to do their bit without a clue of what they are letting themselves in for.

Tommo, more gentle and naïve, and Charlie, more jaunty and robust, come alive in Michael Watling and Adam Williams’ excellent portrayals.

Ami Sawran neatly captures the girlish frivolity of the younger Molly, loved by both brothers, and the later anxiety of the wife left at home, while Annette Williams has the right matriarchal presence as the boys’ mother.

But this is essentially an ensemble piece, shot through with poignant lines such as “nothing ever stays the same” and “if there is a god how did he let this war happen?”

It is a question that rings through the whole piece, including the young Molly’s succinct explanation of how the war began: “France and Germany started fighting and so we had to join in.”

Ron Fosker