Oh, What a Lovely War! [Theatre Programme].

First edition. 12mo. [Pp. 18]. Stapled wraps. Original Theatre Programme.

Joan Littlewood's epochal Theatre Workshop production about the futility of WWI "told through the songs and documents of the period". Originated by Charles Chilton as a radio play, The Long, Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to the stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop, and itself inspired by The Donkeys, Alan Clark's 1961 attack on Great War generalship.

First produced at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, Tuesday, March 19th, 1963, in an ensemble production featuring theatre regulars Brian Murphy, Victor Spinetti and Glynn Edwards and sets designed by John Bury, the production transferred to the Wyndhams Theatre, on June 20th, 1963. It went on to win the Grand Prix at the 1963 Théâtre des Nations festival in Paris.

Filmed in 1969 by Richard Attenborough (in his directorial debut), with an ensemble cast including Maggie Smith, Dirk Bogarde, John Gielgud, John Mills, Kenneth More, Laurence Olivier, Jack Hawkins, Corin Redgrave, Michael Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm, Paul Shelley, Malcolm McFee, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Nanette Newman, Edward Fox, Susannah York, John Clements, Phyllis Calvert and Maurice Roëves.