Following its success at The Watermill Theatre and on tour, The Wipers Times will transfer to Arts Theatre, London from Tuesday 21 March to Saturday 13 May.
Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s The Wipers Times tells the true and extraordinary story of the satirical newspaper created in the mud and mayhem of the Somme. Following a sell-out tour, The Wipers Times transfers to the West End.
In a bombed out building during the First World War in the French town of Ypres (mis-pronounced Wipers by British soldiers), two officers discover a printing press and create a newspaper for the troops. Far from being a sombre journal about life in the trenches, they produced a resolutely cheerful, subversive and very funny newspaper designed to lift the spirits of the men on the front line.
Defying enemy bombardment, gas attacks and the disapproval of many of the top Brass, The Wipers Times rolled off the press for two years and was an extraordinary tribute to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity.
21 March to 13 May
Arts Theatre, Great Newport Street, London WC2H 7JBBox Office 020 7836 8463
Book online