"War Horse" by Michael Morpurgo and adapted by Nick Stafford.

National Theatre production.
Nottingham Royal Concert Hall.

This is the second time that I have seen this beautiful piece of theatre, and it remains as stunning and as powerful as I remember it being when I last saw it about seven years ago.

The young horse was bought in an auction when Ted Narracott (Karl Haynes) out bids his brother, Arthur (Gareth Radcliffe), using the mortgage money of $39.00. This obviously doesn't go down well back at home with his wife, Rose (Jo Castleton) and his son, Albert (Tom Sturgess) is then given the job of looking after the horse, now named Joey.

Arthur then makes a bet with Ted which involved the horse being able to pull a plough within a week, which Albert trains Joey to do, winning the horse for himself.

As war comes, Ted sells the horse to the war behind Albert's back for $100. Albert is resigned to bring Joey back from the war which involves signing up for war, even though he is too young.

"War Horse" exceeds other theatre productions, for me, on two accounts. The first is the whole depiction of war. It shows the true horrors of the first World War; soldiers being blasted off of their horses, horses being mutilated by soldiers riding them into barbed wire fences, soldiers with limbs blown off and the horror of the whole involvement of war. I may say at this stage that it's not quite as graphic as I've made out but the presentation makes your imagination work overtime.

The second is the amazing puppetry. You soon forget that these horses are puppets and there are people involved in making the magic, and you truly believe there are horses on stage. there's one piece where one horse was put out of its' misery which will really get to you; it did me and you just feel helpless, and then you have to bring yourself back to reality and think "it's a puppet"!

That said, these puppeteers, the award winning Handspring Puppet Company, are incredible. The flicks of the horses' tail, the subtle movements, the mane shaking, the breathing of the horse, every mannerism makes you feel they're exquisite equines in front of your very eyes.

It's not just the wonderful horse puppets though, as there's the comical goose, who never quite manages to make it in through the farmhouse door, the birds in the sky, as well as the savage ones picking at the flesh of the dead soldiers and the horses. Pure theatrical magic.

It's this magic that will get you choked at the end. A lesser individual would have released a tear; I just had dust in my eye making it water. Must have been all that dust from the several gunshots on stage.

Seriously though, this is one of the most amazing pieces of theatre you'll see, and you'd have to be inhuman not to be moved by the incredible actors, puppeteers, singers etc, If you allow yourself to invest emotion into this show, you'll leave this theatre drained.

The cast number about thirty-five, including the puppeteers that bring these amazing puppets to life.

I've said in the past that a really good puppeteer will make you see the puppet and not the puppet master, and with puppets of this scale, that's not hard to do, but to make you feel emotion towards such a creation shows that they have convince you that what you see is a living, breathing alternative cast member, and they make you invest in those characters to such an extent that you really do block out anything bar the animal you see before you.

That said, the puppeteers really do need a mention for creating that magic, and it is incredibly hard work doing what they do.

Joey, the horse that the Narracott's bought, and the titular character in this story, was brought to life by Tea Poldervaart (Head), Robin Hayward / Ross Green(Heart) and Gun Suen(Hind).

Joey as a foal was thanks to Diany Samba-Bandza (Head), Jordan Paris (Heart) and Eloise Beaumont-Wood (Hind)

Tophorn, the Captain's horse was controlled by Tom Quinn (Head), Lewis McBean (Heart) and Michael Larcombe (Hind).

 

The lighting design by Rob Casey was spectacular, as was the sound design by Christopher Shutt; both bringing your heart rate down as well as making you jump out of your skin.

Music was beautifully evocative folk music, written by Adrian Sutton, who also created the music for the National Theatre's production of "The Curious Incident Of the Dog In The Night Time", and the song maker being John Tams. performed live on stage by Sally Swanson.

Matthew Forbes is the Puppetry Director with Toby Sedgwick being in charge of the  Horse Choreography and Movement Director. Adrian Kohler is the Puppet designer/Fabrication on behalf of Handspring Puppet Company. 

"War Horse" is directed by Tom Morris and Katie Henry (revival director). It's almost like watching a three dimensional Hollywood movie being played out just feet from where you're sitting. The explosions powerful enough for you to feel the impact on your chest, taking your breath away.

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Several times I've built myself up for a piece of theatre and have found that the production fell below what I'd hoped for. This production exceeded anything I could have hoped for. It's a beautiful piece of theatre, which I'm sure that the Directors, Tom Morris and Katie Henry are incredibly proud of. If I was a director and produced a piece like this, I'd be happy to retire knowing that I'd be hard pushed to better it.

I really can't impress on anyone wondering if they should see this show just how much they will love this piece of theatre, as I did. Just make sure that you're fully stocked up with tissues.

"War Horse" is stabled at the Nottingham Royal Concert Hall until Sunday 18 May.