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Adieu La Vie
Oh What A Lovely War
Malvern Festival Theatre
***** OH
What A Lovely War was the ensemble
creation of the Theatre Workshop in 1963, not the product of a single
writer, but the fruit of improvisations by a troupe of actors under the
guidance of Joan Littlewood. They explored the events of the Great War through
a medley of songs and sketches stitched together with projections,
with news panels that move the story along chronologically, and that
statistically remind us of the horrendous casualties resulting from the
obstinate and inhumane strategies pursued by ‘the top brass’. The show provides us with a variety of contrasted
perspectives: the ordinary soldiers in the trenches, the politicians in
Westminster, the generals, the Germans, the women at home etc. There is
great variety of tone too: the solemn and emotional pathos of some
moments is contrasted with the comical and the highly satirical. There is plenty of humour, but it is mostly dark,
black or bitter. The songs and dances are so often lively and jaunty,
but these are in poignant contrast with the horrific facts and realities
of the war that provided the greatest number of casualties and some of
the worst conditions experienced in wartime. The imagery of the play is varied: the offending
limb of the German soldier used to prop up the parapet, the fruit thrown
at Mrs Pankhurst as she makes her pacifist speech, the rowing, punting
and swimming along the river and the ‘football on a stick’ effect on the
Christmas Day match epitomise the creativity, humour and colour of the
show. The satire is overall the dominant tone in the
piece: the arrogance of the politicians and ruling classes of Europe,
and the total insensitivity and blind obstinacy of the generals are
exposed with biting satire, compared to the earthy and sardonic humour
of the infantry who are warmly treated, and the down-to-earth
practicality of ordinary women in the streets of Britain with their
occasionally risqué humour. A foreign observer comments in Act Two: the
British infantry ‘fight like lions but are led by donkeys’. The Great War was ironically billed as the ‘war
to end all wars’ – however it did result in a change in the attitude to
national leaders who led the continent into war; it also bred a new
attitude amongst a large number of nations to the ways in which warfare
should be waged. The notion of war crimes emerged and was further
developed through the Second World War. Every aspect of this show was done well! The
music, the choreography, the colourful and varied costumes, the lighting
effects, the overall design and conception were of the highest standard.
The design brought the show into the auditorium visually and the cast
came out among the audience and engaged with them from the outset. This
is a long show but the pace and liveliness of the show was first class
and maintained a strong sense of momentum. The cast were talented! They executed the
singing as soloists, in unison or in harmony very well, the dancing was
delightful to watch and the projection was good even if a few words got
lost. The effective use of lighting coupled with powerful sound
effects was brilliant and poignant. In terms of poignancy, the scenes where the cast
fell silent and looked up at the projected statistics of casualties or
the pictures of troops in the trenches were particularly moving. This was a great production! Having seen
‘Oh What A Lovely War’ in various forms a few times, I was delighted to
be treated to a version that was very faithful to the original script
but also developed it in creative and relevant ways. This had the effect
of bringing the hard-hitting satire to the audience not only relative to
the events at the beginning of the twentieth century. ‘Adieu la Vie’ –
war is the antithesis of life. The relevance to our world a century
later was powerfully communicated. To 21-02-15 Tim Crow
17-02-15
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