Oh! What a Lovely War - Theatre Royal Stratford East

The famous satirical musical Oh! What a Lovely War is returning to its East End roots in a revival marking not one but two anniversaries: half a century since it first opened at the very same theatre and a century since the start of the First World War. 

Hot on the heels of his acclaimed Hysteria , director Terry Johnson is bringing his version of Joan Littlewood’s play to the Theatre Royal Stratford East, where it was first performed in 1963. Leading the cast is Caroline Quentin, best-known for her roles in popular television series Men Behaving Badly and Jonathan Creek. 

The original musical was a landmark production not only for the director Littlewood’s politically motivated company Theatre Workshop, but for British theatre in general. Drawing on the music hall tradition of the First World War era, it included jaunty, devil-may-care tunes such as It’s A Long Way To Tipperary , Pack Up Your Travels in Your Old Kit Bag and Keep the Home Fires Burning . These songs were juxtaposed with slide projections of statistics such as: ‘28,000 dead, gained 5 yards’ and ‘Average life of a machine gunner on the Western Front: 15 minutes’. From day one, the audiences loved it; the press less so, with the Guardian commenting: ‘It was as unfair as any powerful cartoon’.

The play transferred to the West End and Broadway and then, in 1969, was made into a film with a cast which reads like a Who’s Who of the acting world: Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave and Dirk Bogarde among them.

The revival promises to be a marriage of old and new, honouring the spirit of the redoubtable Littlewood’s original version whilst re-imagining it for a modern audience. The task is in experienced hands: Johnson’s 2010 revival of the La Cage aux Folles won him a Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical, and the designer, Lez Brotherson, is one of Britain’s best. Among those starring alongside Quentin are Tom Lorcan, who plays Billy Elliot 's brother, stage and television star Ian Bartholomew, and Michael Simkins, who has appeared in the musical Mamma Mia!, Mike Leigh's film  Topsy Turvey and Michael Frayn's Democracy .

The original production chimed with Sixties audiences, perhaps partly because it coincided with protests against the Vietnam War. It remains to be seen whether the revival will resonate as strongly with 21st century theatregoers, but we reckon it's in with a chance of standing out from the crowd of centenary arts events. 

Tickets: £14-£28; £9.50-£18.50 concs

Address and Map: Gerry Raffles Square, Stratford, London E15 1BN

Underground: Stratford