This co-production of Joan Littlewood’s musical entertainment, created by the Stage 65 Youth Theatre and Musical Theatre Salisbury, offers thought-provoking theatre.

An excellent two-tier set incorporates two screens on which battlefield scenes are complemented by grim statistics from the First World War. The 58-strong cast, who include a troupe of pierrots, depict the changing moods of the period, as the cheery optimism of new recruits gives way to despair as they witness the slaughter of so many comrades.

The opening sequence of the show, as the Last Post is sounded, highlights wreath-laying at the base of a large, central wall which bears the names of Wiltshire’s Fallen. Subsequently the wall opens, to reveal action.

The show finds no excuse for the appalling carnage wrought by machine guns and poison gas, and repeats the claim that soldiers fight like lions but are led by donkeys. As casualties escalate to unimaginable levels, and newly conscripted troops are brought in, there is official assurance that “What they lack in training, they will make up in gallantry.”

There are many memorable moments in this show, with its keen satirical edge emphasised by bizarre costume and make-up. There is a fatal cavalry charge, on hobby horses; the brilliant portrayal of an almost incomprehensible Sergeant Major and a very moving exchange of Christmas greetings and gifts between British and German troops, whose fraternisation was roundly condemned by their superiors.

On the Home Front, there is an Officers' Ball, and American guests grouse-shooting in Scotland – as young actors flap in panic, scattering feathers in the aisles. This year, amid so many commemorations of the start of the First World War, it is salutary to reflect on the many subsequent conflicts that have occurred annually since 1914. These were flashed on to the screen, with a note that if UK troops leave Afghanistan later this year, 2015 may be the first year in which our Armed Forces have been at peace.

Members of the Youth Theatre perform well, alongside their adult mentors, from whom they can learn valuable ways to improve their own stagecraft. There are many splendid choral and solo numbers, from Keep The Home Fires Burning to The Bells of Hell, in which little demons cavort wildly.