Oh what a Lovely War

[vooghtay]

Hey!

Anyone LD'd this show, any ideas / suggestions gratefully received.

 

Very early in the production process atm not even got the script, so if anyone has an idea of what it is about that would be good as well :P

Ive tried searching the net, but cant find a plot synopsis anywhere so if some one could fill me in on that one as well id be grateful.

 

Thanks

 

Jon

[damian666]

it's a music hall style show with a plot based around the event sleading up to and through the first world war, the numbers being made up of songs from the period and some written for the piece. Very good piece if done well, and also very hardhitting if you pay attention!

try here

http://www.whatalovelywar.co.uk/ohwhatalovelywarteachers.htm

may help a bit. go google go!!

[Paul J Need]

:P Forgive me but..........

 

(1) Read the script

(2) Listen to the soundtrack

(3) Meet the Director

(4) Look at the modelbox, designs, plans. what ever is applicable for your production

(5) Design the show.

 

By all means, once your finished all the above, then ask for specific ideas, such as "Hey guys, struggling a little for ideas how to light scene X, during the second number. any suggestions.. so far I've come up with .............. " etc etc.

 

Don't look for the cue synopsis from a previous production, it wil be totally different for what you and the director will probably want.

 

This is YOUR work remember..... i.e. on the Programme somewhere there will be a line saying "Lighting Designer : Jon.............."

 

Otherwise good luck, it's a very moving peice of musical theatre. Enjoy it.

[Andrew C]

With OWALW there are normally slides of scenes from WWI and a scrolling text display of things like how many killed in battles etc. When I last did it, we combined the whole lot into a Powerpoint presentation and saved cash/grief. The publisher will supply slides or CD of the original pictures, but don't forget to ask for them (NOT MY FAULT, but we ended up having them couriered down!!)

[vooghtay]

:P Forgive me but..........

 

(1) Read the script

(2) Listen to the soundtrack

(3) Meet the Director

(4) Look at the modelbox, designs, plans. what ever is applicable for your production

(5) Design the show.

 

...

 

I understand that, I wasn't asking for a pre-designed show, I had just been unable to find anything on the net so far, and was just wondering if anyone here had any experience with this show in the past so I was prepared for the first meeting with the director.

 

Thanks

Jon

[Paul J Need]

I understand that, I wasn't asking for a pre-designed show, I had just been unable to find anything on the net so far, and was just wondering if anyone here had any experience with this show in the past so I was prepared for the first meeting with the director.

 

Thanks

Jon

 

I understand that Jon, but all should need to do is actually read the script! No need for much else really mate

:P Enjoy the process, enjoy the show

[ojc123]

I did this with a School Production. I didn't really get to grips with the "plot" till the last night.

 

The IMDB gives a synopsis of the movie and is similar to the stage play. There is no real plot. There is a series of scenes of famous war bits like the football in no man's land, Generals being pompous asses, slaughter, graveyard humour and personal stories.

 

There really needs to be a series of pictures and text which is projected somewhere. This was a lighting problem because if it's on you can't have lighting near it or it gets difficult to read (or else you have to have some high powered widget beyond school budgets).

 

The challenge (for our limited system) was to get a variety of different effects to highlight different environments. We did lots of localised lighting, for instance where we had Germans and Brits talking at different times. (This, of course,meant that we lit bits of the stage and the actors stood in the dark bits.)

 

For what it's worth we found one of the most effective bits of the lighting was to use footlights (birdies if I remember). It really worked to separate the show bits from the war bits where we used a much more modern style of lighting. The other thing which worked well was a number of floods on the floor which in the same position as footlights to cast huge shadows onto the cyc when the French cavalry made their fatal charge.

 

There's always an OWALW on somewhere. Try to see one. I saw some brilliant versions and one which was the worst piece of theatre I ever did see. It was an insult and the only time I have left a theatre at the interval. I learned from them all.

 

Just remembered, we needed lots of flashes for explosions etc partly because we can't use pyro's. Sound was fun too. We had every speaker we could get all over the auditorium so we could have shells whistling in all directions.

[Just Some Bloke]

:) Forgive me but..........

 

(1) Read the script

(2) Listen to the soundtrack

(3) Meet the Director

(4) Look at the modelbox, designs, plans. what ever is applicable for your production

(5) Design the show.

 

Here here!

 

However, I would also point out, especially with this show, that costume and make-up are important. Often OWALW is costumed as black and white clowns. Scenes costumed this way will look silly with pretty saturated colours. Lots of correction gel (201 - 203 as appropriate) might be the order of the day!

 

JSB

 

P.S. Hope you enjoy it!