Kenneth Pyper is the first character the audience is introduced to at the beginning of the play. Commonly called Pyper, he opens with a confrontational outburst demanding his invisible inquirer to cease questioning him about the battle of the Somme. The first commentary is given through Pyper’s outburst about the violence he experienced at the Somme on July 1st, 1916. He criticized his invisible audience with, “I will not talk. I will not listen to you. Invention will give that slaughter shape. That scale of horror has no shape, as you in your darkness have no shape. Your actions that day were not, they are not acceptable. You have no right to excuse that suffering, parading it for the benefit of others” (McGuinness, 97). By expertly allowing
