A play about war and the deep regrets it gives rise to is about to open in Dartford thanks to the dedication of one man

Mike Higginson, 43, from Sidcup, is a solicitor. He does not want to be a director or an actor but he spends a lot of time doing both. He is directing and acting in Not about Heroes a play based on the lives of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. The play opens at The Edward Alderton Theatre, in Bexleyheath, on December 1.

Higginson said: "We rehearse for six weeks and if you're doing a play which involves a very complex set and a lot of people you could be working at the theatre every night."

He discovered this play about four or five years and said he has just been waiting for the right time to do it.

Finding the second actor to play Owen has been enormously difficult : "Because it's a real-life play it has to be somebody who could be convincing as that real character."

The theatre does six productions a year but only has about 35 active members to do all the acting, directing and technical tasks so it is always a struggle to find a full production crew.

The play tells the story of the relationship between two of the greatest war poets. Sassoon was already established when he met and encouraged Owen in his writing. He even helped him to get published.

Owen eventually became the greater of the two but was killed about a week before the war ended. Higginson said: "Sassoon blamed himself for allowing Owen to go back to France. He was haunted until he died by the thought he could have prevented Owen from dying."

The play was written in 1986. It is factual and is based on extracts from the poems of the two men, letters and Sassoon's memoirs.

Higginson said: "It's a very serious play but it has got some comic undertones. It's not a title that jumps off the page at you but it is one of the best plays I've read for a long time."

He has been single minded in making the production an integrated process: "At the end of the day you have a vision in your mind of how it's going to look on stage even down to choosing the incidental music you're going to use. It's very important to get the overall image and presentation right."

Dec 1-8, Not About Heroes, Edward Alderton Theatre, Brampton Road, Bexleyheath, 7.30pm, £5, 020 8301 5584, www.edward-alderton.ukf.net

November 26, 2001 17:56

Joan Gardner