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oblong box. There were just a few of us stage crew plus the resident stage manager Les Field and his ASM Sid (whose surname I forget!). A few productions later I spoke to Sid about the quality of the painted backdrops that we had just received from the hire company along with the faded and discoloured small items of free standing scenery.
     
    He did no more than get out a huge box of paints and brushes and began restoring the artwork. I will paraphrase his comments. These days anyone with an Arts or Media Studies degree can design a set. It usually takes shape around a piece of scaffolding and assorted ladders. The thing that few people who enter theatre can do is to restore the original paintwork of distressed scenery and make it look like nothing has been done even under the searching glare of spotlights. Sid was a sort of undiscovered genius when it came to un covering the spirit of the old theatre.
     
    All we have to do explained Les was to attach this black oblong box to one of the battens with a strong set of chains. This black box was the ‘newscaster’. It was the only piece of scenery we had, along with a large screen which was also hung from a batten near the rear of the acting area.
     
    Oh! What a Lovely War is a company led musical conceived and in spired by Joan Littlewood at the Theatre Workshop which bears her name. It retells the story of the First World War from authentic archive material with a backdrop of songs sung by the troops and their families at home. It is a powerful piece of theatre as it is based on the actual words of the generals and Tommy Atkins – the ordinary soldier facing the horrors of the trenches.
     
    There are no stars in this show. All the parts are played by the same group of actors who may have two or three or more people to represent. It is presented as an end of pier Pierrot show where the pierrots become soldiers or nurses or civilians as the action changes from scene to scene. There are a few roles that are constant such as Lord Haig and the commentary from a part just named as ‘MC’ who sets the scene.
     
    The passing of time, changes in where the action is taking place and news from the front line are all broadcast by the newscaster. I still have my copy marked ‘Newspanel and Slides’ and each separate piece of news is cued from the line just before the broadcast is due. Also cued are the changes in the slides that are to be projected on the screen such as maps of the front line and propaganda posters along with images of the dead and dying in the trenches and on the wire. Along with the words being spoken or songs being sung the images of war and the news of the numbers of dead all add to a moving and emotional piece of theatre.
     
    The problem with the newscaster was that you couldn’t rewind it or go back one frame . It was like the news broadcasts you see advertising events in public places or the sliding updates at the bottom of cable news channels. Once the piece of news had been shown it stopped until you pressed the button to show the next one.
     
    It wasn’t like a video recorder or in these technological days a DVD with a menu. I had to get the timing right and not click the timing button too enthusiastically and go on to the next text message. The same with the slide show. If you get the timing right the production is heightened. Get it wrong and it becomes something quite less. I am pleased to say, I got it right every night.
     
    I was happy with my role; it made me feel an integral part of the action that was unfolding on stage. Although I got my cues from the novice stage mana ger I had my own book and all he needed to concentrate on was the lighting cues up to the lighting box.
     
    As stage work goes it was one of the most relaxed in the phys ical sense . Every now and then tables and chairs had to be moved on to the stage and this was done by the actors themselves. Rather than expose the way the stage is set it re-enforced the close work of the