Fully annotated student edition of a modern classic Oh What a Lovely War is a theatrical chronicle of the First World War told through the songs & documents of the period First performed by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal Stratford East London in 1963 it received the acclaim of London audiences & critics It won the Grand Prix of the Theatre des Nations festival in Paris that year & has gone on to become a classic of the modern theatre In 1969 a film version was made which extended the play's popular success The play is now on the standard reading list of schools & universities around the UK & was revived by the Royal National Theatre in 1998