Oh What A Lovely War

Our open air Summer 2026 production will be the musical entertainment that is ‘Oh What a Lovely War’.

Created by Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop in 1963, ‘Oh What a Lovely War’ tells the story of the First World War through popular songs and music of the period. Known as ‘The Great War’ and even ‘The War To End All Wars’ (sadly so very wrong) the four years of bloody conflict between August 1914 and November 1918 resulted in the deaths of millions and changed the entire global landscape. Old empires fell, new ones began to rise, and the seeds were sewn not for lasting peace, but for conflict to come.

This is not a tale of bravery and heroism. By balancing music hall songs such as ‘Roses of Picardy‘, ‘Hold Your Hand Out, You Naughty Boy‘, ‘I’ll Make A Man Out Of You‘ and ‘Keep The Home Fires Burning‘ with tunes from the trenches such as ‘I Don’t Want To Be A Soldier‘, ‘Gassed Last Night‘, ‘When This Lousy War Is Over‘ and of course ‘Oh What A Lovely War‘, with sketches shedding light on what went on both on the front lines and behind them, the play lays bare the stupidity, corruption and futility of the war, at the same time sending up mercilessly the upper echelons of Britain’s military, more concerned with prestige and position and outdated ideology, unable or unwanting to change in the face of new technologies such as the machine gun, poison gas, aeroplane or tank, capable of dispensing death on a new, industrial scale.

With the men in the frontline being ordered to do the impossible, their best, and sometimes their only, armour was a sense of humour, and this production showcases that brilliantly. Come and see us, join in the songs (you’ll know more than you think) and laugh along with the Tommies, the lions led by donkeys…