War Horse (UK Touring)
Fairly rare that a piece of totally immersive theatre using song, music, sound effects, puppetry as well as some outstanding performance storytelling, comes along. However originally a National Theatre production and now in its 10th Anniversary year, just one of those pieces is War Horse am emotional tale based on the children’s book of the same name by Michael Morpurgo.
At the core of the story is the bond between boy and animal, a horse called Joey and young Albert Narracott played with engaging charisma by Thomas Dennis, the two brought together by feuding bids between brothers at an auction from Albert’s father, Ted and his uncle Arthur (played with typical northern grit by Jack Lord and William Ilkley respectively).
Relationship between boy and horse grows ultimately leading to triumph in a ploughing contest forced through jealousy by cousin Billy (another convincingly northern performance by Jasper William Cartwright). Although this is not something a riding horse would normally adapt to, Albert manages to train Joey to victory, much to the relief of his mother Rose, constantly amazed at both the stubbornness of her husband and the capability of her son, played with great characterisation by Jo Castleton.
At this point World War I breaks out and Joey is sold into the army by his father and without the knowledge of Albert and we follow his story on the battlefield, originally as the mount of an officer, cut-off from the British and befriended by French youngster Emilie (authentically portrayed by Joelle Brabban), commandeered by German army officer Friedrich (a master class in acting from Peter Becker) and ultimately injured by barbed-wire after being startled by a tank attack.
Meanwhile Albert has joined-up in search of Joey and is constantly one-step behind him until he is temporarily blinded by tear gas and is at a military hospital as Joey is brought in with his injuries. Albert hears the horse as he is about to be shot, whistles him and Joey responds, the two are reunited and return home at the end of the war.
Pulling the story together in a narrator/songman role is the heady folk voice of Bob Fox who adds something unquantifiable to the whole show that it would not be the same without.
Whilst there are some great acting performances, much of the credit goes to the puppeteers who make the horses and other creatures (including a goose, a piece of pure genius puppetry from Billy Irving) into as close to reality as it is feasible to, there are simply too many to mention but, they are all masters of their art who have to be seen to be fully appreciated.
Great direction from Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, minimalist yet powerful design and drawings from Rae Smith, puppetry design and direction from Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler along with Toby Sedgwick’s simply wonderful movement and horse choreography proves also that it’s not all about those on stage.
Plenty of chance to see this stupendous production as the tour runs until 16th March 2019, you’ll not regret it and undoubtedly remember the experience forever.
Book Here
At the core of the story is the bond between boy and animal, a horse called Joey and young Albert Narracott played with engaging charisma by Thomas Dennis, the two brought together by feuding bids between brothers at an auction from Albert’s father, Ted and his uncle Arthur (played with typical northern grit by Jack Lord and William Ilkley respectively).
Relationship between boy and horse grows ultimately leading to triumph in a ploughing contest forced through jealousy by cousin Billy (another convincingly northern performance by Jasper William Cartwright). Although this is not something a riding horse would normally adapt to, Albert manages to train Joey to victory, much to the relief of his mother Rose, constantly amazed at both the stubbornness of her husband and the capability of her son, played with great characterisation by Jo Castleton.
At this point World War I breaks out and Joey is sold into the army by his father and without the knowledge of Albert and we follow his story on the battlefield, originally as the mount of an officer, cut-off from the British and befriended by French youngster Emilie (authentically portrayed by Joelle Brabban), commandeered by German army officer Friedrich (a master class in acting from Peter Becker) and ultimately injured by barbed-wire after being startled by a tank attack.
Meanwhile Albert has joined-up in search of Joey and is constantly one-step behind him until he is temporarily blinded by tear gas and is at a military hospital as Joey is brought in with his injuries. Albert hears the horse as he is about to be shot, whistles him and Joey responds, the two are reunited and return home at the end of the war.
Pulling the story together in a narrator/songman role is the heady folk voice of Bob Fox who adds something unquantifiable to the whole show that it would not be the same without.
Whilst there are some great acting performances, much of the credit goes to the puppeteers who make the horses and other creatures (including a goose, a piece of pure genius puppetry from Billy Irving) into as close to reality as it is feasible to, there are simply too many to mention but, they are all masters of their art who have to be seen to be fully appreciated.
Great direction from Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, minimalist yet powerful design and drawings from Rae Smith, puppetry design and direction from Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler along with Toby Sedgwick’s simply wonderful movement and horse choreography proves also that it’s not all about those on stage.
Plenty of chance to see this stupendous production as the tour runs until 16th March 2019, you’ll not regret it and undoubtedly remember the experience forever.
Book Here
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