War Horse – Sunderland Empire
Invited| 6th November 2024
Review by Stephen Stokoe
There is a time in the year to watch some plays. December is perfect for A Christmas Carol, for example. Sunderland Empire has hit the jackpot in presenting War Horse until November 16ththis year. There is no better way to honour those who served and gave their lives so that we may enjoy our freedom.
Albert has his own reasons for taking the King’s shilling and fighting the Boche: he’s desperately searching for his brown stallion, Joey who has been sold into service by his dad.
The action opens in 1911 in Devon, where Albert’s dad buys a foal for his farm. Albert is then charged with rearing the animal and develops a close bond which endures through many trials and tribulations including the outbreak of the war to end all wars as it was, subsequently and sadly, very much misnamed.
War Horse is an epic drama based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo and adapted by Nick Stafford. That, in itself, may present enormous challenges to transfer to the stage but in the very safe hands of National Theatre in association with Handspring Puppet Company, it is something very special indeed.
When you create a piece of theatre and Steven Spielberg comes along to say that he would like to make it into a movie, then you know you have done a marvellous job.
There is a spectacular amount of theatrical magic in this production, not least of which is in the outstanding lighting design. Rob Casey and originally Paule Constable has designed something which performs in the piece as much as the actors and puppets, illuminating the serenity of the Devon landscape and the drama and misery in the trenches in France. It is something to behold.
This production transcends theatre in that there is a constant stream of the most exquisite drawings which add to the set and contribute to driving the story to its conclusion. These animations and projections are designed by Nicol Scott, Ben Pearcy, Edd Stockton and Anna Jones from the company ‘59’and are spectacular all by themselves.
Add to this, the most wonderfully evocative music written by Adrian Sutton and songs by John Tams and you get a production that is as heart warming as it is dramatic and uplifting as it is traumatic. The music flows throughout the piece effortlessly dancing through classical, folk, war songs via dramatic film soundtrack and much credit has to go to the sound designer, Christopher Shutt too.
Then there is the puppetry. War Horse has set the standard in puppetry for theatre and seeing is believing as these majestic beasts take to the stage. You would be forgiven for believing that Joey and Topthorn (the main horses) are not real. They move like real horses. They react like real horses. But that is not all. Despite being manipulated by many skilled actors and puppeteers, the choreography (Toby Sedgwick) is such that the human element melts away to leave the audience simply seeing the animals.
1208-R
2139-R
Joey and Topthorn are played in rotation by twelve puppeteers in rotation depending on the performance you see and my hat goes off to each and every one of them. I can only hope that the goose has somewhere warm and pleasant to stay when she gets a well deserved rest. It is a random thought but you will know exactly what I mean when you see the production.
War Horse is very much a sum of its parts, spectacularly so! Wherever you look there is ingenuity, talent and exquisite attention to detail. I am not going to name any of “the people” as they are described in the programme for fear of missing anyone out except for Geordie (Owen Dagnall) who delighted the rather partisan audience this evening.
At a time of year when spooky and other-worldly goings on are left behind and fireworks have fallen silent, our minds turn to those who sacrificed their lives so that we may enjoy ours, War Horse offers a timely reminder that humans were not the only ones to lay down their very beings in service and reminds us all of the horrors and ultimate futility of war. Lest we forget.
War Horse will play at Sunderland Empire from Tuesday 5 –Saturday 16 November 2024. Tickets available online now at ATGTickets.com/Sunderland *
*A £3.95 transaction fee applies to online bookings