The 2024 tour dates have been announced for Blackeyed Theatre’s critically acclaimed revival of Oh What a Lovely War. Marking the 60th anniversary of Joan Littlewood’s epic anti-war musical, the award-nominated production has been extended to May 2024, following a highly successful run at Southwark Playhouse. A cornerstone of modern musical theatre and one of the very greatest stage satires, Oh What a Lovely War delights and shocks in equal measure, bringing home the realities of war to audiences across the UK. Now, more than ever, it holds a mirror up to the world and speaks
to us all.
Conceived and developed by Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop in 1963, Oh What a Lovely War remains a classic of modern theatre, a fusion of timeless songs – including Pack Up Your Troubles and It’s a Long Way to Tipperary – razor-sharp satire and high jinks, offering a joyously scathing account of the First World War. Wildly satirical, visually stunning, and deeply moving, the show is a hilarious, heart-breaking snapshot of life for those caught in the crossfire of conflict, a unanimous voice from the trenches and a timely warning from the theatre of war itself.
Oh What a Lovely War stars Tom Benjamin (Fire Songs, Frozen Light; Rewind, Ephemeral Ensemble), 2023 Rose Bruford graduate Tom Crabtree, Harry Curley (Once, Barn Theatre; Summer in the City, The Gatehouse; Caligari, Underbelly), Alice E Mayer (Frankenstein, Blackeyed Theatre; The Chronicles of Wild Hollow, Audible; Y Mabinogi, Welsh tour), Chioma Uma (Brief Encounter, New Wolsey and UK tour; Kiss Me Kate, Watermill Theatre; Cinderella The Rockin’ Panto!, New Wolsey Theatre) and Euan Wilson (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Vienna English Theatre; The Great
Gatsby, Immersive London; Stick Man, UK tour). The cast is notable for having all trained at Rose Bruford.
The production is directed by Nicky Allpress (The Shape of Things, Park Theatre; The Walworth Farce, Southwark Playhouse Elephant; My Brilliant Friend, National Theatre), with musical direction by Ellie Verkerk (Burnt City, Punchdrunk; The Color Purple, UK tour; SIX, West End and UK tour) and movement direction by Adam Haigh (The Mikado, Theatre Royal Bath and UK tour; Ruddigore, Wilton’s Music Hall; Kiss Me Kate, Leicester Curve).
Blackeyed Theatre Artistic Director Adrian McDougall comments, I’m so proud of the entire team who have put together this incredible show. The experience this group of artists creates for our audiences night after night is nothing sort of astonishing, and the response to the production bears
that out. It’s also worth mentioning that our entire 2024 cast graduated from the same college; Rose Bruford, which is a real testament to the quality of its training! 2024 marks our 20th birthday, and I’m very proud not only that we continue to create shows of the quality of Oh What a Lovely
War but that we do so sustainably with little or no funding against an increasingly challenging theatrical landscape. I like to think Joan Littlewood would approve.
