Tommy by the Way

Examiner of Plays' Summary:

A dramatic and impressive little sketch. It is that of the mental struggle of a war-worn soldier, suffering from shell-shock in the trenches, against the temptation to inflict upon himself what he calls the "blighty touch", a wound sufficient to send him home out of the horrors. Just as he is about to commit this act of cowardice there appears to him in the dark desolation of his trench-surroundings a mysterious veiled woman, who moralizes the situation for him and with him, speaking to him first as a chance spectator of his shameful despair, and then revealing herself as the Spirit of the Woman of England, bringing to him the memory of his sweetheart who is worshipping him at home as a hero, and of all the sweethearts who through the centuries have inspired their heroic British lovers in their deeds of daring-do. Her successful little sermon is eloquently preached; and there is eloquence of another kind in the realistic "what the 'ell" and "blimey" arguments of the Tommy, whom she finally sends forward, after his dream, to his duty of giving it the "'Uns in the neck" once more [...]