National Theatre's War Horse is a marvelous spectacle

Last week, I went to see the National Theatre's production of War Horse , which has been adapted from a children's book.

Why the writers/directors thought a book written for nine-year-olds is a big question, but the play is a visual extravaganza.

Here's my review:

Joey, the chestnut-coloured star of the show, easily stole hearts as he galloped through scene after scene of the National Theatre’s production of War Horse. And it probably had a lot to do with the fact that he’s made out of bamboo and cloth.

So, it seems the risk the production team at the National Theatre took to use puppets in the stage adaptation of War Horse, originally written by Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo, definitely paid off. It’s not easy to produce a play whose lead character a horse, but playwright Nick Stafford witty script and the Handspring Puppet Company’s life-size creatures – the animals and even some of the people are puppets – have been combined to tell the story of a boy’s love for his horse.

The story so far

In Stafford’s version, the story is told through people, where Joey comes alive as the obsession of his teenaged master Albert Narracott. Bought to work as a farm horse, Joey is sold by Albert’s father to the British Army for the princely sum of £100 at the beginning of the First World War.

What follows is 16-year-old Albert’s enlistment in the army, and frantic search for Joey through the battlegrounds of France. Horse and master are reunited after many fantastically choreographed battles, when a wounded Joey is rescued from no man’s land.

The love of a boy for his horse and the drama and tragedy of war are beautifully staged with the help of a great music score by Adrian Sutton, dramatic lighting by Paule Constables, and the clever use of live vocals penned by John Tams. The story also relies on some innovative multimedia produced by video designers Leo Warner and Mark Grimmer to deliver a powerhouse of a production.

But the stars of the show are the puppets. Watching their fluid, graceful, almost life-like movements is fascinating. In fact, at times it’s almost impossible to separate puppet from puppeteer.

Performance-wise

Credit must be given to director of motion Tony Sedgwick, who got his puppets to dance and leap in some of the most breath-taking battle scenes choreographed on stage. The sight of officers charging, with swords raised, while sitting astride galloping horses (fortunately, the slo-mo effect worked for this scene) was a jaw-dropping sequence.

Disappointingly, and considering the epic proportions of the productions, the actors’ performance failed to really sparkle.

But in the case of the War Horse, the sum of all parts really did pull together to make a show. It’s highly entertaining and definitely worth the ticket price, even if it’s 45 quid.

Image courtesy:sxc.hu