BWW Reviews: OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR, Birmingham Rep Theatre, May 5 2015
Over the last year, many productions have been revived to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War. Oh What A Lovely War , originally produced by Joan Littlewood at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, is another example of this and is playing the final week of its UK tour at Birmingham Rep.
The show is an incredibly proud tribute to those men and women that were lost fighting for our country between 1914-18; you cannot help but feel very patriotic throughout. There is no thread binding the scenes together, merely sketches and songs so it was almost a revue - certainly in keeping with the era. Terry Johnson's direction showed snippets of brilliance but I feel he is limited by the material given to work with. The set design by Lez Brotherston is very visually appealing with its broken-down music hall feel. The only element that I felt didn't quite work was the animated scrolling text LED sign. Understandably the production requires something of this sort but this choice was a bit too modern in my opinion. The lighting design by Paul Pyant is, by far, the star of the show - the essence of locality and mood is perfectly captured by his vision. Mike Walker's sound design is also very good; when the bombs went off, our seats literally shook and hence brought the audience in.
The cast are proficient and energetic and did the best they could but unfortunately the show as a whole just didn't quite work for me as a production. Some of the scenes were quite drawn out and my attention wandered a lot because of this. Some of musical numbers brought my concentration back temporarily but it did feel like a long evening! Wendi Peters is an exceptional talent as is Ian Reddington's comedy prowess. Superb support came from the ensemble cast but particularly from Mark Prendergast and Lauren Hood.
Oh What A Lovely War plays at Birmingham Rep until Saturday 9th June 2015.
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