Pig Iron's show follows Rich and Vincent, who leave Yale to join a volunteer ambulance corps in France the year before the U.S. enters World War I -- the same adventure that would give Hemingway material for A Farewell To Arms. The war to end all wars: Now there's a concept. As a slogan producer, WWI was right up there with shock and awe; even in those days, the issues of neutrality, patriotism and humanitarian responsibility were vexed. Young men have always thought of war as a measure of manhood and an opportunity for heroism; and, in 1916, the battlefields of Europe beckoned to the men of Princeton and Yale eager to escape their hothouse of privilege.

Rich (Dito van Reigersberg) is a gung ho jock eager to get into the action. Vincent (Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel) is a disillusioned poet who sees war as a fool's horror show. All the predictable stuff happens: They fall in love with two nurses, English Mary (Cassandra Friend) and French Francoise (Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey). They write letters from the front. The women nurse the wounded and make beds and write -- or don't write -- back. There is heartbreak and there is joy. James Sugg supplies convincing sound effects from the sidelines as well as musical accompaniment on the accordion. Solveig Holum wrote the text and Trey Lyford designed the lights, which create not only emotional effects but also room divisions. Dan Rothenberg directs.

Gentlemen Volunteers has toured the world and been lavishly praised by the foreign press, and now that the much-acclaimed Pig Iron Theatre Co. is giving its hometown a brief chance to see this show, don't miss it.

GENTLEMEN VOLUNTEERS Through May 18, Pig Iron Theatre Co. at Christ Church Annex, 20 N. American St., 215-627-1883