Oh What a Lovely War
Presented by The Sinodun Players
Monday 20 Oct 7.45pm Book Now
Tuesday 21 Oct 7.45pm Book Now
Wednesday 22 Oct 7.45pm Book Now
Thursday 23 Oct 7.45pm Book Now
Friday 24 Oct 7.45pm Book Now
Saturday 25 Oct 2.30pm Book Now
Saturday 25 Oct 7.45pm Book Now
Tickets £10 First Night £8
“Oh What a Lovely War” – what’s all the fuss about?
Former Education Secretary Michael Gove has stated – a staggering 50 years after its premiere – that this modest-seeming piece of theatrical entertainment typifies all that is wrong in English attitudes to the Great War of 1914-8. Why? And can he possibly be right?
To find out, come and see Wallingford’s Sinodun Players become the latest actors to don the iconic Pierrot costumes. “We’ve got songs for you” says the Master of Ceremonies, “a few battles and some jokes”. What possible kind of account of the war can that be?
You might love it or hate it, but no theatre-goer can ignore Oh What a Lovely War. This multi-media performance with its mixture of irony, documentary elements and knockabout fun, told in swiftly-shifting scenes with slide shows and the popular songs of the war years, was a truly ground-breaking event in 1963. It remains a landmark of 20th Century European, even World drama.
It’s fun. But it packs a punch like you wouldn’t believe.