St Helena

About the show

St Helena: a play in twelve scenes is a play by the English author R. C. Sherriff (notable as the author of the First World War drama Journey's End) and Jeanne de Casalis (who also researched it). It deals with the exile of Napoleon I on Saint Helena. In a production by Henry Cass, it premiered at the Old Vic on 4 February 1936 to poor reviews, but was rescued by a letter to The Times by Winston Churchill, calling it "a remarkable play" and "a work of art of a very high order"; though a West End transfer also proved unsuccessful.