ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a new survey of World War I theatrical entertainment from August 1914 up to and including the rather arbitrary cut-off date of 31 December 1918. It provides an accessible list of wartime entertainments performed in British theatres and music halls which were written during the conflict. The chapter sheds light on a number of elements of early twentieth-century entertainment. Playwrights or theatre managements were required to submit copies of every new play or revue (including songs) to the censor. The censors – usually G. S. Street or E. A. Benthall – wrote a report on the play and advised whether the play should be granted a licence or whether any amendments were needed before it could safely — or decently – be performed. The inclusion or exclusion of a particular title is partly the result of judgements of how a particular text fits the criteria of a 'war' play.
