… What do we want with eggs and ham, when we’ve got plum and apple jam? Form fours! Right turn! How shall we spend the money we earn? Oh! Oh! Oh! it’s a lovely war.
J. P. Long & Maurice Scott, © 1917 B. Feldman & Co. Ltd, London
I’m too young to have seen the original 1963 production of Oh! What a Lovely War’ by Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop, but I became familiar with it and the original cast through a long playing record – remember them? So it was in the back of my mind to see it ‘one day’ – which finally happened yesterday in the fine city of Norwich. Blackeyed Theatre Company – based in Bracknell, Berkshire – have just commenced a UK tour to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the show and I heartily recommend it.
I should stress that this photo was taken before the show started and I did then turn my phone off, but I wanted to get a picture of the set. The show is in the style of a down-at-heel Pierrot show or concert party. In fact its look and style probably has much in common with some of the improvised performances put on by the BSF, with cast members taking multiple roles and playing a variety of instruments (no pit band), with limited props and costumes and much improvisation and the audience having to use its imagination. One big difference though is that, unlike Salonika, the cast includes ‘Real Girls’ – although there is still cross-dressing! The cast of just six members does a tremendous job – singing and acting in English, French and German, dancing and, as I say, playing a variety of instruments.
You are probably aware that Joan Littlewood had strong political views and the show’s viewpoint is the futility of war and it is no friend to Sir Douglas Haig but, whatever your views and wherever modern scholarship is on the subject, this is an entertaining and thought provoking piece of theatre, not a documentary. With only changes of hats and sometimes accents to indicate who the characters on stage are, it can sometimes take a moment to get into the sketches but, for me, it is the songs that are at the heart of the show and they don’t disappoint – I will be humming them for days to come. If this show did nothing more than preserve some of the songs of the Great War, it would still be worth celebrating, but it remains a powerful and emotional piece of theatre. With a superb young cast, this is a worthy production for the sixtieth anniversary of Oh! What a Lovely War.
See it while you can!
A ‘Pierrot’ entertaining men of 8/Royal Scots Fusiliers in Macedonia (publication unknown – from Robin Braysher’s collection).
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Salonika Campaign Society, 1915-1918 
I performed in my school version of OWALW in the early 80s and it’s that which sparked my interest in WW1 and led me to tracked down my 2 x Great Uncle’s medal and memorial plaque some 40 years later. He served with the 11th Welsh and paid the ultimate price at Doiran in September 1918
Hi Jon, thanks for sharing your memories. Tracking down your Great Uncle’s medal and memorial plaque is quite an achievement. Is he buried at Doiran or on the memorial to the missing? If you have a photo or any details, we would be happy to remember him on the website. Let me know and I’ll email you. Best wishes, Robin
Hi Robin
Thanks for the reply.
I do have a couple of photos of Great Uncle David in uniform including one of him in Salonika with an unnamed pal.
As far as I know he is on the memorial to the missing although I’ve not been fortunate enough to visit Dorian as yet, something I’d like to do with the society at some point.