By Theatre Workshop, Charles Chilton, Gerry Raffles and Members of the Original Cast.
Title suggested by Ted Allan
Tuesday 2 to Saturday 6 December 2008
This classic of the modern theatre, brings the First World War vividly to life, using songs of the time, pictures and news-strips, interwoven with re-enactments of the war’s key events.
Joan Littlewood’s kaleidoscopic vision charts, with humour and compassion, how the lives of ordinary men and women were affected by the actions of statesmen and commanders and how the indomitable spirit of the people rose above some of the most terrible events in our history.
First produced in 1963 by Theatre Workshop at Stratford East, ‘Oh What a Lovely War’ used material from authentic sources and, at the time, Joan Littlewood wrote: ‘the ones who inspired us were numberless but most of all we were indebted to the unnamed soldiers whose songs we sang’.
The production enjoyed a huge success and transferred to the West-End. It was subsequently made into a celebrated film by Richard Attenborough. There have been many revivals, notably at the National Theatre in the 1990s.
This is a special Shoestring production to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the November 1918 armistice.
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH SAMUEL FRENCH LIMITED |
