War Horse is the tale of two star-crossed lovers... well, friends. English farm boy Albert and his beloved horse Joey are torn apart by World War II. The plot follows their stories of survival. Albert’s journey is dedicated to finding and rescuing his horse, while Joey’s journey shows his powerful effect on those who meet him.
Tear-jerking and explosive this production was captivating. It emotionally plays off the special bond between humans and animals.
Theatre Experience 🐝🐝🐝🐝
The Lowry is a well-staffed, clean and colourful venue. The bars didn’t have horrendous queues and the staff were friendly and helpful. The seats were very comfortable with good leg room.
The ticket prices for War Horse are very high. As a touring show from the West End this is to be expected but it’s still hard to swallow. As far as theatre experiences go, this is outstanding and worth the money as a truly special treat.
Image Copyrights: Brinkhoff/Mögenburg
Plot 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
This story comes from the children’s book War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. As such, although it contains many twists and turns, scene changes and characters, I comfortably followed the plot.
I loved the fact that the story avoids taking sides in the war. Joey-the-horse meets kind strangers, both German and British, including an upstanding British cavalry officer, a little French farm girl and a sentimental German officer.
It’s an emotional production – I had a few tears and heart-pounding moments. The way the show deals with the horrors of war was particularly impressive. The director completely avoids grotesque, bloody, violent scenes, choosing instead poignant moments of great effect.
Cast 🐝🐝🐝🐝
The cast were all clearly professional West End actors, bursting with well-controlled energy. The characters themselves lacked depth and complexity but seeing that the plot was taken from Michael Morpurgo’s children’s book War Horse I won’t criticize this too harshly.
Albert, the main human character, held his half of the plot well, artistically changing as his personality develops, becoming hardened by the war. Others, like the young French girl, were a bit too over-the-top, it didn't help that the actress was much older than her character and made me wonder if the girl was meant to have a mental illness.
I’ll mention the puppet-masters as cast members briefly here because they weren’t just invisible engineers, they became part of the life-like animals on stage, adding to their characters. I found myself glancing between a wonderfully characterful puppet-goose and its master who exuded as much sass and goose-ness as his puppet. Truly wonderful stuff.
Image Copyrights: Brinkhoff/Mögenburg
Staging 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Handspring Puppet Company from South Africa deserve a standing ovation to themselves. I’m guilty of holding a negative prejudice against puppets ordinarily. But the ‘puppets’ of War Horse are not puppets – they are graceful, magnificent wooden structures ingeniously brought to life. From young foal Joey skipping in a field I saw a real horse. The audience gasped when the gigantic adult-horses charged onto stage later. It was jaw-dropping.
The puppet-characters displayed clear, distinct idiosyncrasies making them as relatable and unique as the humans. Audience favourite, the goose, received his own cheer at the end for his comedy.
The stage was set simply for most of the production with a few key, identifying props such as barbed wire, fences, doorways and barrels to set the scene. The main feature was a large screen hung above all of the action, shaped like a torn-piece of paper (referencing Albert’s torn-out drawing of Joey). Beautifully simple black and white sketches like rolling English hills, or pouring rain, were animated.
Music 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Much like the set, the music was perfectly simple. An anonymous farm man holding a large storybook opened the show with a haunting folksong. The singing was fantastic. It felt authentic and natural with great Devon accents. There wasn’t a false note in any of the pieces, despite some of them being completely a cappella (unaccompanied by music). The songs were heart-warming and emotional.
All singing was performed live and the songs are written by famous folk singer John Tams. They are occasionally accompanied by a prerecorded soundtrack from Adrian Sutton (also composer for the beautiful soundtrack of Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time). It fit perfectly into the production transporting the audience back in time to the war-era and to the farmlands of South England.
The sounds of artillery, battlefields and fighting were loud and realistic. There were several unexpected loud noises that had quite a few audience members screaming in shock, be warned!
The Theatre Bee 🐝
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