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Find EventsThe Wipers Times
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 national tour, The Wipers Times transfers to the West End for a strictly limited season.
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.
★★★★★ “Wonderfully theatrical” - WhatsonStage
★★★★★ “A quite magnificent stage play” - Libby Purves, TheatreCat
★★★★ “Laugh a minute” - Mail on Sunday
★★★★ “What this play brilliantly conveys, without any sentimentality and with copious gags, is that the production of a few fragile pieces of paper came almost to matter more to those chaps involved than life itself.” - Daily Telegraph
- Address
84 Long Lane, London SE1 4AU
- Cancellation Policy
No refunds or exchanges after booking.
- Duration
Act 1: 60 minutes
20 minute interval
Act II : 50 minutes
- How Does It Work
You will receive a confirmation email with a voucher attached. Please print this voucher and bring it to the Box Office. We recommend you arrive a minimum of 30 minutes before the show to collect your tickets and settle into your seats.
- Suitable For Children
12+ recommended
- Times
Tuesday 21 March – Saturday 13 May 2017
Monday – Saturday evenings 7.30pm
Thursday and Saturday matinees 2.30pm
- Where Do I Go
Arts Theatre : 6-7 Great Newport Street, London, WC2 H7JB
NEAREST TUBE: LEICESTER SQUARE. Take the Cambridge Circus exit (Exit 3). The theatre is the first street on the right.
Arts Theatre
84 Long Lane, London SE1 4AU