"Sometimes I think this is all a hideous dream, that one day I'll wake up and it'll be as though it had never been. Or maybe I'll die, and it'll be as though I'd never been" - Lt. Parsons
Narrow as the Line is a funny, evocative and ultimately tragic portrayal of the effects of trench warfare on the human psyche. Set on the Western Front during the height of World War One, the play follows two days in the life of the 3rd Battalion’s officers. It’s cold, it’s wet, and they’re expecting a German offensive at any moment, yet in true Aussie tradition they attempt to make the best of a bad lot: jokes, stories, games, anything to take their minds off the reality of the situation.
But on the front the horror can never be escaped for long and ultimately they are shown to be caught in the perpetual repetition of what is their daily routine. Slowly the routine of war become the every day, until it goes unnoticed. When even war and death can become a routine for an individual what does that mean for society? As the second act picks up it becomes clear that the characters are now stuck not only in the First World War, but in a never ending repetition of every war through history.
