THE CENTENARY OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR’S OUTBREAK will be marked by Festival Arts in the Bishop’s Palace, St Davids, this August, as their popular summer season opens with Oh What A Lovely War.

The production premieres on August 5^th 2014 – exactly one hundred years since the people of Britain awoke to discover that their country had joined the First World War.

This classic play by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop is a remarkable piece of theatre: a troupe of seaside Pierrot entertainers tell the story of the war through drama, comedy, projected images from the war, and the songs the soldiers sang. Festival Arts' unique production takes place in the open air (like Pierrot performances often were), accompanied by a live theatre band amidst the beautifully illuminated ancient stone walls of the Bishop’s Palace.

It’s 45 years since Jack Beckett first brought Festival Arts to Pembrokeshire for a summer repertory season. Since then they’ve become a regular fixture, performing three entertaining shows for locals and tourists alike every August. Their hallmark is accessible and engaging theatre, which many people return to see year after year. The company have been performing in the spectacular Bishop’s Palace since 1970, when they first performed Oh What a Lovely War there. 

This summer, Festival Arts will also be performing Toad of Toad Hall in the hilltop village of Mathry, and In The Money in the atmospheric Bishop's Palace Undercroft. If you’ve never been to one of their unmissable performances, the time’s definitely come to try them for yourself. The Festival Arts box office opens in the heart of St Davids on August 1st.

Oh What A Lovely War: 5th, 6th, 9th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 19th and 21st August 2014, 8pm. Tickets £8 / £10 (Family tickets £30 – £38).