Oh What a Lovely War

To commemorate the start of Great Britain’s entry into the Great War of 1914 -1918 “Oh What a Lovely War” was produced by Salisbury Playhouse by combining the talents of their in house youth theatre group, Stage 65, and Musical Theatre Salisbury. “Oh What a lovely War” pokes fun the establishment with period songs and sketches whilst at the same time reminding us of how many lives were lost for so little gain. Both my grandfathers served with distinction during the Great War and perhaps that is the reason why I have always taken a great interest in the subject.

Unfortunately this production did not reach my expectations. Whilst the musical content and choreography was very good throughout, the pace of the delivery in many of the sketches was laboured and hesitant. In many places the voices of younger members lacked projection making it hard work to follow what was actually being said and by whom. Also some of the scene changes did seemed to be very slow.

Projected photographs from the conflict were used to great effect, however some other images did not show the correct information. A major error was the one that said” The Battle of the Somme was July 1917”. This should have been corrected or taken out at the technical rehearsal. The ending was changed to mention all conflicts since 1918 but I felt it lost the impact that original ending of the show had

There were several excellent performances from the cast and a superb marching routine from the female members of the company, but for me, the highlight of the evening was the outstanding Drill Sergeant teaching the recruits basic drill movements. Although we could not tell what he was saying, we knew exactly what he meant. It brought back some wonderful memories of my Army training.

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