WAR HORSE (National Theatre)*****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.ntathome.com/war-horse

Available until: Unknown

War Horse is a play I’ve long been aware of but never seen. I’ve read and enjoyed the book by Michael Morpurgo, my mum’s old schoolfriend was a musician when the production transferred to the New London (now Gillian Lynne) Theatre and some of my siblings have seen it, but not me. Until now.

It’s fair to say I was missing out.

Part of my reluctance stemmed from the fact that I’m slightly dubious about puppets. They work well in certain contexts, but I couldn’t imagine accepting a puppet as a horse. Obviously, a real horse onstage would have been extremely difficult, especially considering all the noise in the production, and a spooked horse is a dangerous horse, but I couldn’t imagine a puppet coming close to the magnificent portrayals of horses by Ira Mandela Siobhan and other actors in Ned Bennett’s production of Equus (seen first at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, then on tour before its transfer to the Trafalgar Studios in the West End).

Well… it did come close. To begin with, the presence of the puppeteers was distracting (perhaps partly because the foal Joey is so small), but I soon got used to them to the extent that they were effectively invisible, particularly once the adult Joey arrived. Joey is a majestic and beautiful horse and the way the puppeteers manipulate the body is very realistic. The puppeteer who was responsible for ‘Joey hind’, Sam Wilmott, shares his name with the brilliant performer I still remember from his impressive portrayal of Chistery the monkey in Wicked. He could well be the same person as there was a definite choreography in the horses’ movements (the choreographer is Toby Sedgwick), with the three puppeteers (the other two are Nicholas Hart and Andrew London) working seamlessly in harmony. Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler from Handspring Puppetry have really achieved something special here.

But perhaps the best thing about Joey is the way I (not in an Equus way, I promise!) fell in love with him. I simply accepted him as a real horse and (except in the sad moments, of which there are many), his personality, which was wonderfully-expressed, kept on making me smile. There was also a beautiful relationship, full of mutual affection, between him and Albert, played by Siôn Daniel Young.

There were also other horses, including Topthorn, who is played by Nigel Allen, Michael Taibi and Lewis Peploe. Although he doesn’t have Joey’s personality, he is also incredible to watch. There are some really powerful scenes involving one or more horses, accompanied by very evocative music, which is composed by Adrian Sutton. And we definitely can’t forget Tom Meredith as the brilliantly-characterised goose.

Directors Marianne Elliott and Tom Norris have made the play, which was adapted by Nick Stafford, into a very visual experience. A lot of it is performed without dialogue, often accompanied by really lovely folk songs (the songmaker is John Tams). Rae Smith not only designs the production but also produces drawings. At times, the production does almost look like a drawing coming to life. There is also a very poignant conversation between Albert and his parents, who are surrounded by the fallen horses from the previous scene. They can’t see the horses, but they are very symbolic given the subject of the conversation.

It is mainly about the horses, but the humans do a great job too. Siôn Daniel Young is brilliant as Albert, showing the changes in him as he grows up through the play, though one thing never wavers: his love for Joey. Steve North and Josie Walker fill the stage with tension as Albert’s parents, Ted and Rose. Alex Avery (Captain Nicholls), Alistair Brammer (Billy Narracott and Geordie) and Ian Shaw (Friedrich Muller) provide just some of the strong performances in a large cast.

But we all know who the star is really.