JENNY DE KLERK
What can I say to convey the emotional experience of this superbly conceived and staged production? Like many in the audience, I cried.
Up until now, the hype around War Horse has revolved around the life-size horse puppets created by the Handspring Puppet Company, based in Cape Town.
Deservedly so, as they dominate the stage, so realistic that it is easy to suspend disbelief and connect emotionally, feeling their terror, confusion and pain.
But there is far more to War Horse than the horses.
It is a devastating indictment of the futility of war, one of the most terrible wars of our history, brutalising on both sides.
Yet it is also an affirmation of humanity as moments of courage, humour, comradeship and hope shine through the darkness.
Theatrically and technically, this is one of the most brilliant productions I have ever seen.
The sweep of the production, from rural Devon to the World War I battlefields of France, is conveyed on a screen above the stage shaped like a piece of paper torn from a sketchpad.
Hand-drawn sketches set the scene, from rolling hills, to stormtossed ships, to the stark outlines of bombed-out farmhouses.
The screen is also used for animation and projections to augment the action on stage as bombardments detonate and soldiers emerge from the murky darkness, advancing into enemy territory, rifles at the ready.
The cavalry charge, as the projection sweeps you onward and the great horses pound across the stage is devastatingly effective.
The stage stretches into shadow, a vast darkness from which figures emerge.
Sets are simple, often only poles carried by silent extras.
Lighting is used with searing effect, to highlight colt Joey in the auction corral, his alarm evident in his twitching ears; to explosive blasts on a featureless terrain where two soldiers shiver in a foxhole; to the straining horses pulling a massive field gun; to a cataclysmic confrontation between tank and horse; to Joey, desperate and alone, bolting into the barbed wire of nomans-land.
All the performances are superb, the accents of this British cast impeccable.
There’s the young Albert bonding with his playful colt, teaching the adult Joey to plough, then watching him ride away to war.
When he hears that the cavalry unit has been wiped out, Albert, only 16, runs away to search the battlefield for his beloved Joey.
The moment they find each other is heart-wrenching.
Stand-out performances come also from the anguished German cavalry captain, wanting only to save the horses and himself from the front line and go home, Albert’s feisty mother, the young French girl Emilie and even the “effing” sergeant with his mangled French.
There are other puppets, shadow horses, circling vultures feeding on the dead and a delightful goose who wins a round of applause all his own.
The music is provided by a single singer, Bob Fox, armed only with an accordion, singing folk ballads and war songs, sometimes augmented by a chorus.
It is simple, poignant and startlingly effective, adding a reverberating dimension to the overwhelming emotional impact of the show.
This is not a show for small children, but there were many slightly older on the night I was there and they were totally absorbed.
This is a production that cannot be missed. It is truly extraordinary.
War Horse is based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo.
This production is presented by Pieter Toerien, Rand Merchant Bank and the National Theatre of Great Britain.