Great War Theatre

Address: London, UK

Performances at this Theatre

Date Script Type
17 Sep 1914 England Expects - A Recruiting Play Professional
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Seats in the gallery were free and the performance was presented three times daily. The cast included: Seymour Hicks, Isabel Elsom, Harding Cox, Master Sidney Fitchie (child actor), Harry Reynolds, Edgar J Coyne, Montague Travers, Keith Williams, Harold Perry, Elsie Margetson, May Taverner, Herbert Evans, Elizabeth Watson.
24 Dec 1914 Aladdin Unknown
29 May 1915 The Queen Of Spades Or Pique-Dame Unknown
15 Jul 1915 Aleko Unknown
17 Jul 1916 Look Who's Here Unknown
17 Jul 1916 Look Who's Here Professional
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'Laughter of an unmistakable quality, the laughter that comes because it must, seldom ceased in the London Opera House last night; and there was never a joke nor an antic to be noted with regret. The new revue is as cleanly as it is cheerful. There is a story, too - a story of genuine interest, if it be not thrillingly original' (Globe, 18 July 1916). 'Although “Look Who’s Here!” is, of course, a big affair, using the huge stage to excellent purpose, it is not very splendid. There is very little gilt and tinsel about it. But it is a revue that comes home to London, to London life, and London scenes. It has something of the racy Cockneyism of a Drury Lane pantomime of the old days. Apart from this, it tells a serio-comic story with almost melodramatic fidelity, and while it is one of those “all-in” productions that will obviously need a good deal of scissor-work during the next week or so, there is a thoroughly pretty, popular, and jolly review there already' (Pall Mall Gazette, 18 July 1916). 'The rich dish Mr Stoll sets before his guests has too many plums in it. Some of the less tasty can be spared and no harm done. In ambitiously aiming at spectacular comedy there was risk of tumbling between two stools. The rival claims have free play, however. The splendid show comes out fine and large, and if the comedy is often of the humbler kind known as “low,” without disparagement, it hit the mood of the audience best when in that key' (The Sportsman, 18 July 1916). 'Billy Merson and Fred Kitchen ... score a real success in a burlesque of acrobatism - one of the drollest exhibitions of ground and lofty tumbling we remember to have seen. The whole business is taken with such delightful seriousness, and the final skit on the toppling column feat is a scream' (The Era, 19 July 1916). '‘With one author, one composer, one lyric writer, and one producer – quite a rare circumstance in modern revue production of the more ambitious kind – Mr. Oswald Stoll has managed to provide London with one of the best revues of modern times. One uses the word “revue” for want of a better description for a wealth of spectacle and colour, and fun and melody, for, to tell the truth, “Look Who’s Here!” can boast of possessing little more of the real revue element than is the case with the majority of similar productions' (The Stage, 20 July 1916). 'From next week onwards matinees of “Look Who’s Here” will be given at the London Opera House on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, in addition to the performances every evening. The advance booking is in every way equal to that of Mr. Stoll’s other successful venture, “The Bing Boys,” at the Alhambra’ (Daily News (London), 22 July 1916; also The Era, 26 July 1916). ‘We understand that since the first night production of “Look Who’s Here” at the London Opera House Mr. Oswald Stoll has severely overhauled the book, and has introduced several new scenes with the hope that “there is a laugh in them” for the comedian' (The People, 23 July 1916). 'Mr. Cochran’s success with revue in a small theatre where performers and audience formed a sort of intimate parlour party, has produced an excessive and ill-sorted emulation. Revues are not for large theatres like the Opera House. They must be “cosy” or they are nothing’ (Clarion, 28 July 1916). 'The title of the new piece, “Look Who’s Here,” would seem to invite attention to the brilliance of the cast engaged, and although, with Miss Ethel Levy at their head, the list of principals is good enough, the revue, as a whole, is rather a case of not being able to see the wood for the trees. Amid the rapid traffic of the numerous scenes one is allowed but a fleeting glance, now and again, of those on whom the chief burden of the entertainment is supposed to rest. This is the inevitable result of producing revue on a large scale, which itself is the natural consequence of playing it in a large house and on a big stage. In these circumstances, too, even when the leaders are given a chance of exhibiting their individual talent, there can be none of that confidence, approaching intimacy, between them and their audience which adds so much to the attractiveness of the smaller and less highly organised revues at, say, the Ambassadors’ or the Vaudeville. However, of its kind, “Look Who Here” is not a bad entertainment' (Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore), 24 August 1916). ‘There are to be drastic changes in cast and libretto of “Look Who’s Here” at the London Opera House. Mr. Billie Merson and Mr. Fred Kitchen are both retiring, and Mr. Arthur Roberts and Mr. Jimmy Learmouth will become chief mirth-makers in the rewritten version of the revue by Mr. Harry Vernon’ (Sporting Times, 16 September 1916). '... the desire nearest our hearts is, of course, the homecoming of the “boys.” And that is the “suggestion” that the latest scene introduced into “Look Who’s Here” tries to put into concrete form for us, just to give a fillip to our imagination. The resourceful Lady Ethel Levey-Wallace-West lays out the last of Mr. Billy Merson-Peppercorn’s fifty thou. in a reception and spread to follow at the Royal Automobile Club in honour of our returning braves. The scene is the big dining-room of the club. When the curtain goes up a crowd of ravishing fair ones cluster about Mr. Art. M. Swanstone, who is quite one of the g-hirls [sic], and sing in chorus to his ditty of the ubiquitous powder-puff (the connection with the Army is obvious) before Miss Levey gets right down to the business of forceful suggestion with a word-and-music picture, called “Welcome, welcome home!” of what it really will be like on the joyful day. It is a fine, stirring song, and she puts plenty of warm feeling into the singing of it. A bugle call rings out at the back of the auditorium, and through and round the house come marching a crowd of well-groomed misses in navy and khaki, who presently muster on the stage to the sound of martial music, and the waving of flag and banner. As a “suggestion” the scene is well enough, and it might easily be made more effective with greater diversity of uniforms' (The Era, 20 September 1916). 'There have been one or two nights at the ex-Hammerstein white elephant when the orchestra, had it revolted, could have licked the stuffing out of the audience. Such a great expanse of empty seats as the Opera House can produce has a most depressing effect. Why not try some of the W. W. Kelly stunts with paper?' (Sporting Times, 30 September 1916).
4 Dec 1916 My Superior Officer Professional
23 Dec 1916 Cinderella Unknown
8 Mar 1917 The Other Bing Boys Unknown