Extraordinary puppetry elevates simple, often dark, adventure
Equine characters undoubtedly the stars of the show
War Horse
Until Sunday | Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Tickets: $ 45 to $ 97 plus charges at ticketmaster. ca or 1- 855- 985- 5000
A horse may seem like an unlikely central character for a Broadway show, but from the moment he prances on stage as a foal, it’s clear who is at the heart of the National Theatre of Great Britain’s production of War Horse.
Adapted from Michael Morpurgo’s cherished British novel of the same name, the play follows the simply drawn lines of a children’s story, never getting too complex, at least, not when it comes to its human characters.
In 1911, in the English West Country county of Devon, a boy named Albert’s father spends the mortgage money on a foal in a bidding war against his brother, a war hero. He brings it home to the chagrin of his no- nonsense wife. They leave Albert, played with appropriate wide- eyed naiveté by Michael Wyatt Cox, to break in and care for the animal, whom he names Joey. The two become close friends, romping together through the fields as they both grow into the vigour of youth.
But the Great War is on the horizon, and Albert’s father sells Joey to the army for triple his original investment. A local lieutenant promises a quick and safe return of the horse, but of course in war, nothing works out as planned. When Joey is lost in battle, 16- year- old Albert enrols in the army and heads to France in search of his equine friend.
The war section that makes up the rest of the show is very dark — bombs explode, bullets crackle and bodies fly. The battle scenes are a marvel of analog theatrical effects, combining puppetry, lighting and sound to immerse the audience in the devastation of the First World War. Though it’s certainly a story that would draw kids with its adventurous young protagonist and extraordinary visual style, the smaller and more sensitive ones might not make it through the cacophony.
The production is weakest between explosions and when the action wanders away from Joey’s journey. With characters doing German, French and a handful of regional British dialects, the accents tend to wander all over the place. One German bad guy veers into vaguely Russian territory. None of the primarily North American cast seems to be able to keep the round tones of a West Country accent in place for very long.
As with last year’s Oscar- nominated film adaptation, the play features a long list of secondary characters that appear and disappear, their occasionally nonsensical plot arcs moving in fast- forward around the central horse. The characters include a lot of old- fashioned British stereotypes: the stiff upper class lieutenant, the sarcastic working class sergeant. Conversations tend to devolve into a lot of yelling, punctuated by the occasional “war is hell.”
But the ingenuity and power of the work of Handspring Puppet Company is undeniable, from birds held aloft on long thin rods so they dart around the sky, to a rampaging black tank and the powerful horses. Two operators in period dress move inside each of the cane and aluminum horse puppets, their visible limbs and hands giving life to the animals. On stage the horses are never still — they appear to breathe and, with the help of a third puppeteer operating the head, twitch their ears. Interstitial music performed by Megan Loomis provides a haunting chorus between scenes.
All together, it’s strong enough to make for an ending that manages to hit the right emotional chord ( call it Stephen Spielberg in B minor) despite being pretty heavily contrived.