Review: War Horse at Theatre Royal Concert Hall

 

2018 marks 100 years since the end of World War 1, and coinciding with commemorations of this centenary, War Horse is touring their hugely successful west end production across the UK and Ireland for the second time since 2013-14.  

Directors Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris bring Nick Stafford’s adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s book to life with sublime storytelling over the two-and-a-half-hour stage show. The audience is transported to two years before the great war breaks out which continues until its conclusion, following the story of a young Albert raising his foal Joey in Devon, their separation as war breaks out and Albert’s determination find his horse on the battlefront and return him home.

A very excited Vanessa and Lydia from the Visit Nottinghamshire team sat down to watch the show in Nottingham last week. Here are their thoughts...
 

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Lydia

While watching War Horse it was clear the audience was left totally awestruck by how life-like the puppeteers’ movements and sounds were portraying the horses on stage. I soon forgot that I was watching actors control Joey and Topthorn’s movements, as they had perfected all the small mannerisms of horses that make the puppets so life-like; occasionally flicking their tails and pricking their ears, even when both were galloping across the stage!

The first few scenes with Albert and Joey as a foal are enchanting as well as comical – my favourite moment undoubtedly being when the adult Joey comes rearing onto the stage for the first time – combined with the show’s outstanding soundtrack, this took my breath away!

The show features harrowing scenes of the battlefield and the extremities to which horses were used in the cavalry and to move artillery throughout the war years. Morpurgo and the play’s directors give us a perspective of life on the front without taking sides, instead we experience this though the eyes of Joey. The starkness between war machines and animals are something constantly put side by side in the play – particularly so when the two horses are captured by the German forces. This bleak landscape is clearly somewhere the horses don’t belong, and it was difficult to watch Joey and Topthorn join the other war-beaten, skeletal-like horses drafted in to pull artillery guns, and equally emotional when he shows Topthorn how to haul the gruelling weight through the mud.

Deservedly, by the end the entire audience were standing up in applause to the brilliant actors who made this show so spectacular. War Horse was hugely enjoyable to watch - a real must-see and unforgettable show which left us very teary-eyed!

Vanessa

Having seen and loved the film the film I jumped at the opportunity of experiencing the National Theatres critically acclaimed play War Horse at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham.

Based on the children’s beloved novel by Michael Morpurgo this moving drama is the story of ‘friendship’ between a young man, Albert and his horse Joey.  It is set against the back-drop of the horrors of World War 1.

Having been moved to tears by the film I was sceptical at first at how the sheer power and physicality of a horse could be played out on stage yet alone make me cry.  However, from the very outset I was totally spell-bound by the beautiful equine puppetry of all the horses, from the young foul, Joey peacefully grazing in the green fields of Devon, to the magnificently powerful grown horse Joey bravely caught up in the horror of the battlefields.  Equally as convincing was the highly entertaining and comical goose that flapped around the stage getting under everyone’s feet!

Not for the faint-hearted, the battlefield scenes and sounds startled me on more than one occasion and the sight of the brutally beaten and war-torn horses laid on the ground, being pecked at by scavenging crows reduced me to tears.  And I wasn’t alone as the whole audience were visibly moved throughout the whole of the second half of the performance.

We joined in the standing ovation at the end to show our appreciation at having been so totally taken in by the whole performance, the highlight for me personally being the life-sized horses that seemed to breathe, twitch their ears, swish their tails and shake their manes as if they were real live animals on the stage. 

We left the theatre feeling heavy headed and emotionally drained yet totally in awe of what we had just experienced, certainly a performance I will never forget.

War Horse runs until 7th April at Nottingham's Theatre Royal Concert Hall. To find out more please click here.

This blog was written by Lydia Jones,  Partnerships Coordinator at Visit Nottinghamshire, and Vanessa Corns, Executive Assistant at Marketing NG.