Oh! What a Lovely War Production

Kings Rochester pupils wowed the audience with their stunning and moving performance in Oh! What a Lovely War. Performed over three nights (plus two matinees) pupils shared a different perspective on war, telling the truth from the soldiers’ point of view—using song, satire, and dark humour to reveal just how messy, painful, and human war really is.

Directed by OR Sam Hall, our very own Sweeney Todd, professional Music Director Sam brought his experience from the West End working with children on "School of Rock" to develop the score. The original version in 1963 was about the First World War and styled like an old-fashioned end-of-the-pier seaside show. This version was reimagined to reflect the conflict in Ukraine and poignantly included the voice of one of our Ukrainian pupils Siia who went back to Kyiv last year - a reminder to the cast that war is still close.

Our production was set in a war-damaged theatre - half-destroyed, half-under renovation. Like history itself, it’s a space being patched together, not yet whole. Costumes are incomplete. Performers are unprepared. Nothing quite fits—and that’s entirely intentional.

This design reflects a deeper truth: no one is ever truly ready for war. Time and again, those caught in conflict describe the experience as disorienting, surreal, and fragmented—like being half-dressed, out of place, and expected to carry on. Our theatre under renovation becomes a metaphor for that emotional state: broken, uncertain, but still insisting that the show must go on.

So while we honour the original’s use of clowning, song, and satire, we’ve placed it within a more fragile, fractured world—one that mirrors not just the past, but today’s unsettling present.