The play is set in
British Malaya in 1942, during the
Battle of Malaya. The characters are a patrol of
British Army soldiers; the play's events take place in an abandoned hut in the middle of the Malayan jungle. Tension rises as the patrol's radio malfunctions and a
Japanese soldier stumbles upon them.
Private T. E. 'Taff' Evans - A
Welshman, pleasant and easy-going (
Alfred Lynch)
Private P. 'Smudger' Smith - A Northerner, a quiet, family man (
Bryan Pringle)
Private Samuel 'Sammy' Whitaker - A
Geordie, the youngest member of the patrol and its radio operator, very nervy (
David Andrews)
Japanese Soldier - Doesn't speak at any point during the play, but still plays a major role (
Kenji Takaki)
Albert Finney was originally cast as the
North Country Private Bamforth but due to appendicitis he was replaced by the then unknown O'Toole, who turned the character into a
Cockney. O'Toole's
understudy (who never went on) was
Michael Caine.[5] Caine later played O'Toole's role on a Scottish tour of the play with
Frank Finlay as Sergeant Mitchem and
Terence Stamp as Whitaker.[6]
Television adaptation
A 30 minute excerpt of the play was filmed for British TV in 1959 with the play's original cast.[7][8]