Guest Blog: 'War as a Concept is a Circus': Director Nicky Allpress on Satire and Audience Connection in OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR

I’ve admired Blackeyed Theatre’s touring work for years. When they asked me to direct Oh What a Lovely War, it seemed natural that war as a concept is a circus of a kind, not only the ‘Great’ war, but every war since.

When I began re-reading the original material I instantly felt drawn to a circus backdrop in terms of design and aesthetic. A troop of entertainers, from the Ringmaster to the clowns, coming together to put on a show in a worn-out tent filled with the ammunition needed to put on a touring show, travelling away from home. Just like the soldiers, singing songs and performing tricks to boost morale. It’s not a million miles from Joan Littlewood’s original concept of Pierrot clowns, (it’s strictly stipulated that the cast shouldn’t be dressed in full uniform throughout), but it felt like the blend of vintage and tradition that new audiences could be excited by. 

In 2023 our relationship with the audience in a piece like Oh What A Lovely War is much the same. There are so many moments in so many scenes that resonate as if they had been written by a satirist in 2033. The same heroes and villains are pulling the same tricks, from the politicians to the arms profiteers, to the effect media propaganda has on the man on the street. It’s a witty and wild ride, with as many contemporary gags as there are nostalgic songs; the older theatre goers who remember the original will find all the songs and sketches they will recognise, while the younger crowd are used to the immersive style that breaks the fourth wall. It’s rich material that conjures so many parallels with the ongoing tragedies of war-torn countries today. 

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges was staging the piece with a cast of six, as opposed to the prescribed fifteen actors, plus a band. Once we’d worked out the complex logistics of who isn’t available to speak (because they’re blowing a trombone), or not able to dance (because they’re sat at the piano), it all fell into place, and I think the intimacy it brings the audience closer.

The theatrical act of quick changes, swapping voices and accents as actors move from one character or instrument to the next, breaks the stiff formal boundary that traditional plays can create. We know it’s illusion, from the very moment the audience walk in, they’re faced with a troop of six very playful performers warming up and unpacking their props. There’s no grand barrier between them and us  - we’re all in it together. 

But how well does Littlewood’s innovative staging of the First World War hold up in the modern world as social mores change, and further historical research challenges accepted interpretations of the war?

The origins of Oh What A Lovely War lie in a 1962 BBC Radio musical documentary produced by Charles Chilton, called The Long Long Trail, broadcast on Armistice Day. It was an unusual mixture of popular songs and hymns, both with rewritten satirical lyrics, coupled with facts, statistics and personal reminiscences. This inspired Gerry Raffles, one of Joan Littlewood’s collaborators, to propose that her Theatre Workshop company should develop the material into a stage musical. Joan Littlewood initially did not like the idea of a First World War show. She had been banned by the BBC in the 1940s for her radical views and as a Communist had been monitored by the British Secret service, as late as the 1950s. However, the idea of having the show performed in a commedia dell’arte style, changed her mind. The futility of war could now be highlighted, as the humour was juxtaposed with the statistical horror of the First World War.

This anti-war piece matched well with the zeitgeist of the 1960s in which it was created and continued to influence popular opinion for decades. Blackadder Goes Forth in the late 1980s continued the theme, showing General Haig sweeping up model soldiers into a dustpan and throwing them over his shoulder. But how fair and accurate is this interpretation of the First World War generals?

Oh What A Lovely War very clearly and brilliantly lampoons Haig and his officers as donkeys and butchers and this remains a valid if controversial view sixty years after it was first conceived. The view of the donkey generals leading the ordinary soldiers, the lions, to their destruction became a key theme in Oh What A Lovely War, which reached the stage in 1963. Popular culture has largely sided with Haig’s detractors, while many historians have sought to move beyond what they would regard as the stereotypes of The Donkeys, while at the same time recognising that serious mistakes were made.

I hope first and foremost the audience will feel entertained. There’s no preaching, just a group of light-hearted circus cabaret acts showing us how ridiculous humans are to fight, when we could be united in dancing and singing. 

Oh what A Lovely War is a great piece of theatre and I hope that as well as being entertained, you will be both emotionally and intellectually challenged.

Oh What a Lovely War is currently on tour until May 2024

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