Journey's EndSet in the First World War, Journey's End concerns a group of British officers on the front line and opens in a dugout in the trenches in France. Raleigh, a new eighteen year old officer fresh out of English public school, joins the besieged company of his friend and cricketing hero Stanhope, and finds him dramatically changed Laurence Olivier starred as Stanhope in the first performance of Journey's End in 1928; the play was an instant stage success