Lyttons limber up for a Salad serving on stage in Stevenage

Published: 5:53 AM May 15, 2016

Updated: 8:08 PM November 1, 2020

Salad Days is the latest production from the Lytton Players in Stevenage, May 2016 - Credit: Archant

Six decades ago, in the grim postwar greyness that still gripped Britain, there wasn’t a lot of sunshine to be savoured – and that went for theatre as much as any other walk of life.

Traditional and sometimes starchy dramas were still the flavour of the month and the Angry Young Men were waiting in the wings with their kitchen sink dramas.

Across the Atlantic there was more to sing about, with some enduring musicals having their first showings, but in battered Blighty what people were crying out for was a frothy musical with absolutely no message, just lots of charm and cheery tunes.

That was the cue for Salad Days, which first saw the light of day in 1954 and which will be revived later this month by Stevenage’s Lytton Players.

The Julian Slade and Dorothy Reynolds creation was an instant smash with audiences starved of such fare, and it went on to become the longest-running West End show of its era.

The Lyttons have been working under the direction of Derek Blyth and Slava Budin-Jones, with Derek also taking on musical director duties, for the show which will be staged at their Vardon Road base from Wednesday, May 25, through to the following Saturday – there’s a 7.45pm show each night and a 2.30pm Saturday matinee.

The company’s Dave Slade says: “The musical’s enduring popularity lies in its light-hearted innocence and apparent simplicity and its bright score including the songs We Said We Wouldn’t Look Back, I Sit in the Sun, and We’re Looking for a Piano.