2014 – Oh, What a Lovely War!

It’s 1914 and Europe is on the brink of war. Your country needs you, so enlist today!


Oh What Lovely War, a stirring and satirical musical entertainment about the First World War was first performed at Theatre Royal Stratford East in 1963. It was an immediate hit, transferring to the West End in June 1963 and opening on Broadway in 1964, receiving four Tony Award nominations including Best Musical.


The impetus for our production is, of course, the 100th anniversary of the Great War. The show is built upon the songs that ordinary British soldiers sang during the war. The optimism of the British Home Front and the horrors of the blood-soaked fields of Flanders are brought to life with an armoury of songs such as Pack Up Your Troubles, Keep the Home Fires Burning and It’s a Long Way to Tipperary. Oh What a Lovely War is a moving and funny evocation of the tragedy and pathos of one of the most ferocious conflicts in history; One that killed ten million in four years.


This production is dedicated to combatants from the four corners of the globe: those who fought and died; those who fought and survived; and all those civilians who ‘kept the home fires burning’ in so many ways during the First World War.

In August 2014 The Riverside Players visited Rendcomb College in the Cotswolds.