Oh What A Lovely War (Modern Plays) by Joan Littlewood

Author:Joan Littlewood
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING
Published: 2014-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

[33] Hush, here comes a whizzbang, [34]

Hush, here comes a whizzbang, [35]

Now, you soldier men, get down those stairs, [36]

Down in your dugouts and say your prayers. [37]

Hush, here comes a whizzbang,

And it’s making [38] straight for you,

And you’ll see all the wonders [39] of no man’s land,

If a whizzbang hits you.

Haig (entering) Germany has shot her bolt. The prospects for 1916 are excellent.

British General (entering) Permission to speak, sir.

Haig Of course.

Slide 40: A map of Ypres and the surrounding district, showing Kitchener’s Wood, Hill 60, Passchendaele, etc.

British General If we continue in this way, the line of trenches will stretch from Switzerland to the sea. Neither we nor the Germans will be able to break through. The war will end in complete stalemate.

Haig Nonsense. We need only one more big offensive to break through and win. My troops are of fine quality, and specially trained for this type of war.

British General This is not war, sir, it is slaughter.

Haig God is with us. It is for King and Empire.

British General We are sacrificing lives at the rate of five to sometimes fifty thousand a day.

Haig One battle, our superior morale, bombardment.

Junior Officer (entering) Sir, tell us what to do and we’ll do it.

Haig We’re going to walk through the enemy lines.

British General and Junior Officer go off.

Slide 40 fades into Slide 41: Tommies advancing across no man’s land, in full battle pack, silhouetted against clouds.

A man’s voice, offstage, sings slowly as Haig speaks.

Song THERE’S A LONG, LONG TRAIL

There’s a long, long trail a-winding

Into the land of my dreams,

Where the nightingale is singing

And the white moon beams …

He carries on humming the tune, ending:

… till the day when I’ll be going down that long, long trail with you.

Haig (during the song) Complete victory … the destruction of German militarism … victory march on Berlin … slow deliberate fire is being maintained on the enemy positions … at this moment my men are advancing across no man’s land in full pack, dressing from left to right; the men are forbidden under pain of court-martial to take cover in any shell hole or dugout … their magnificent morale will cause the enemy to flee in confusion … the attack will be driven home with the bayonet … I feel that every step I take is guided by the divine will.

Sounds of heavy bombardment.

Newspanel FEBRUARY … VERDUN … TOTAL LOSS ONE AND A HALF MILLION MEN.

Haig (looking through field-glasses) This is most unsatisfactory. Where are the Sherwood Foresters? Where are the East Lancs on the right?

British General (who has entered during above speech) Out in no man’s land.

Haig They are sluggish from too much sitting in the trenches.

British General Most of them, sir, will never rise again.

Haig We must break through.

British General Regardless of loss, sir?

Haig The loss of, say, another 300,000 men may lead to really great results.

British General Yes, sir.

Haig And will not impede our ability to continue the offensive. In any case, we have to calculate on another great offensive next year.

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