Tom Wisdom tells Charles Hutchinson about putting aside his own beliefs to play a First World War soldier.

TOM Wisdom has a military background, useful for his role as Stanhope, the young captain in R C Sherriff's First World War trench drama, Journey's End.

David Grindley's West End revival of "the play that swept the world" arrives in York on Monday for a week-long run at the Grand Opera House, returning Tom to North Yorkshire, where he spent part of his youth.

"My father was in the RAF - I was born on an RAF base in Swindon in 1973 - and so I moved around a lot, spending most of my childhood on military bases, including Linton-on-Ouse, when I attended Easingwold Comprehensive School," he recalls.

Tom went on to receive a stage scholarship to the Academy Drama School, and his face will be most familiar from his run in Coronation Street as Duggie Ferguson's hairdresser son, Tom, in 1999-2000. Latterly he has appeared in the leading role of Marco in Sky TV's Mile High, and such are his good looks that he features on the Pretty British Actor Boys website.

Playing the 21-year-old Captain Dennis Stanhope - 12 years his junior, although Tom does not look in his 30s - is an altogether more serious proposition. Not least because this role is forever associated with launching the career of Lawrence Olivier in a low-key Sunday night premiere in 1928.

"He played Stanhope for one performance only for the Stage Society, I believe, and then went straight into Beau Geste which he did for a year," says Tom, ever the theatre historian.

From Olivier's initial endorsement of Sherriff's drama, Journey's End was to progress to the West End, where its revival last year was given resonance anew by events in Iraq. "It's the quality of writing that stands the test of time; structurally it's a very good play," Tom says.

Set in a claustrophobic trench dug-out at St Quentin, the play was inspired by Sherriff's own experiences on the Front, depicting the challenge faced by Stanhope, a gifted young captain promoted beyond his years, as he prepares his men for a daring raid across No Man's Land.

Public school values meet the horror of trench warfare in a play that is often deemed to be anti-war. "I'm not sure that it was written as an anti-war play: some of the cast think it is but there are others who argue vehemently that it isn't. Sherriff never points the finger, but what people will come away thinking is 'What a ridiculous waste of life', and because of what's happened in Iraq, audiences are relating very strongly to that theme," Tom says.

He has had to put his own thoughts on the Iraq war to one side. "You must do that as an actor; you must play him for what he believes in, and the public school-educated Stanhope believes it's the right thing to do. He respects authority and never challenges it.

"I think the Iraq war is ridiculous, but part of being an actor is playing people who are not like you, and I have nothing but admiration for Stanhope for the way he leads his men. I truly believe he would put their lives first," says Tom. "They all went through hell and how he got through it amazes me."

How Stanhope "got through it" was to drink. "It's very unusual that someone would still be in the front line at 21 after joining at 18. Normally they'd be dead, but he has the responsibility of being in charge of men he loves, and the way he copes is to drink whisky in copious amounts. He sees that as better than pretending to be ill, because that would be a betrayal of his men," says Tom.

He has thrived in a role that presented him with new opportunities. "I hadn't toured before and I was concerned that it takes you out of London for a long time, but it's been a great experience. Most great actors have played Stanhope and I love the character, because I haven't previously played a part as strong and yet as weak as Stanhope," he says.

"Vocally it's a big challenge. There's a lot of shouting, particularly the way David Grindley has directed it. This is the first time I've worked with him and he had a very definite vision of what he wanted, and that was to make it more contemporary, more emotional in the playing style. It has to have a real drive to it with none of that old English soldier acting."

On tour since August, Journey's End will be on the road until the beginning of June, and the hard-driven actors have welcomed a week's break this week.

"I needed it!" says Tom. "But we'll be fresh and revived for York."

Journey's End, Grand Opera House, York, Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday, 2.30pm. Tickets: £10 to £24 on 0870 606 3590.

Updated: 16:48 Thursday, March 31, 2005