OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR at the Theatre Royal Windsor

★★★★

“A multi-talented cast of Pierrot-style performers … give their all in this satirical rollercoaster of a show.”

As one of the UK’s leading touring companies with a commitment to theatre that ‘entertains, provokes and inspires in equal measure’, Blackeyed Theatre are continuing their anniversary tour of Joan Littlewood’s pioneering ‘Oh What a Lovely War’ with a stop in Windsor.

The piece was developed in an improvisatory style by Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop in in 1963. Her vision was to break the fourth wall that separates audience from performer, challenging elitism by taking theatre to where it was most needed as part of her proud boast that she was a ‘vulgar woman of the people’.

A multi-talented cast of Pierrot-style performers, most of whom trained on the Rose Bruford School’s Actor Musicianship programme, give their all in this satirical rollercoaster of a show. Director Nicky Allpress acknowledges the complex challenges of the piece which she describes as ‘a beast’ to rehearse – but her vision shines through.

Projections designed by Clive Elkington detail the heart-rending cost of the so-called ‘war to end all wars’ that pointlessly took the lives of tens of millions of young people whilst their unfeeling commanders remained indifferent to their struggle from a position of relative safety behind the lines.

An atmospheric backdrop is created by a circus tent inspired set (Victoria Spearing) evocatively lit by Alan Valentine. The cast play percussion, trumpet, double bass, accordion and more. They sing the old battlefield songs with a mad intensity which seemed to escape the audience member to my right. He sang along gleefully until the fierce cost of the conflict began to appear. Then he was silent.

Even before the show opens, Pierrots lounge in a box and interact with the audience in surprising ways. There are a number of stand-out scenes, including a poignant re-creation of the moment when soldiers met in no-man’s land on Christmas Day. But there’s no false sentimentality here and the satire is brilliantly sharp in a number of key scenes that depict the officer ‘donkeys’ who ordered the British lions into destruction. Naomi Gibbs has designed some clever costumes that at one point permit the cast to play both officers and wives in a viciously entertaining ballroom scene.

The company demonstrated a brilliant command of different voices, and their take on the indifferent drawl of the officer class was particularly impressive. Tom Benjamin sparkled as the MC and Harry Curley and Euan Wilson gave equally strong performances. The other members of the cast shone equally in this non-stop cavalcade of a show.

OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR at the Theatre Royal Windsor as part of UK Tour

Reviewed on 2nd April 2024

by David Woodward

Previously reviewed at this venue:

CLOSURE | ★★★★ | February 2024

THE GREAT GATSBY | ★★★ | February 2024

ALONE TOGETHER | ★★★★ | August 2023

BLOOD BROTHERS | ★★★★★ | January 2022

THE CHERRY ORCHARD | ★★★★ | October 2021

OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR

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★★★★

“a witty, pacey and up-to-the-minute thriller”

Theatre Royal Windsor’s current offering is ‘Closure’ – a brand new thriller by experienced writing duo Catherine O’Reilly and Tim Churchill. They were given enthusiastic support in developing this fast-moving premier by the late Bill Kenwright, the renowned producer whose company owns and operates the theatre.

Family tensions run very high indeed in the first half of the evening as normality unravels like it is going very rapidly out of fashion. Josh and Emma Carlisle (Joseph Thompson and Roxanne McKee) are holding a dinner party at their impressive new country home (set design un-credited) to which they have invited their extended family. Their guests include Susan Penhaligon as Libby Kennedy, a rather splendidly dipsomaniac matriarch with more than a passing infatuation for several bottles of Merlot. Just what is it with all the conspicuous consumption of booze in plays like this? She is partnered by another equally experienced actor (and sometime Blue Peter presenter) Peter Duncan. He plays an ex-cop of what turn out to be rather dubious morals.

Hollyoaks’ Jemma Donovan and Christopher Jeffers make impressive entrances as the couple’s younger daughter Becca and her new boyfriend Alex – both of them rather splendid Love Island wannabes (costumes Hilary Bloomfield).

Director Charlotte Peters ably turns the theatrical spotlight on each of these flawed characters in turn. What happens when good people do bad things? When the pressure mounts, what cracks will appear? And when bad turns to worse, can we the audience guess just what these increasingly manic characters will do next? As well as all this edge-of-the-seat action, there are some daft comedic twists which mean that the dramatic tension is reliably interspersed with laughter. The cast list is competed by Marcus Adolphy who plays a senior police officer with a talent for turning up just when he is least wanted.

‘Closure’ takes a few heavy-handed pot shots at the Insta generation, with lighting effects designed by Douglas Kuhrt. A darker story about trauma and grief underpins the plot, but this is not the kind of play which holds these weighty themes up to serious examination. ‘Closure’ is not conceived as a traditional murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie’s ‘Mousetrap’ and other such theatrical workhorses. It is most certainly a witty, pacey and up-to-the-minute thriller which at tonight’s packed performance did not fail to disappoint its enthusiastic audience.

Tag Archives: Theatre Royal Windsor

OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR

★★★★

Theatre Royal Windsor

OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR at the Theatre Royal Windsor

★★★★

“A multi-talented cast of Pierrot-style performers … give their all in this satirical rollercoaster of a show.”

OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR at the Theatre Royal Windsor as part of UK Tour