Oh What a Lovely War: the show that shook Britain
Joan Littlewood's pioneering 1963 musical about the first world war not only changed attitudes towards the conflict, it remade British theatre. As the show gets a loving revival, Michael Billington examines what makes Oh What a Lovely War greatIt was a momentous year. In 1963, we had the Profumo scandal and the first Beatles LP, the National Theatre company was created under Laurence Olivier and the Royal Shakespeare…