War Horse at The Regent – Review
Every now and again a show comes along which has to be on everyone’s list. War Horse is certainly one of those – Review by Mel Osborne
All too often many of these big productions tend to get stuck with the London boundaries.
However the National Theatre was proud to announce the current tour of War Horse and delighted to debut at the Regent Theatre last night to a jam packed auditorium.
This production, directed by Tom Morris with revival director Katie Henry and is based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo,
War Horse is a love story – but rather than girl meet boy, it is boy meets horse.
Farmers son Albert is left to raise a weakling foal that his reckless father has bought in an act of competitiveness.
Albert develops an unbreakable bond with the beautiful, spirited horse that is Joey. However, when World War 1 breaks out Joey is sold as a war horse and Albert runs away to the army to reunite with his precious horse.
They say never work with children and animals. This is sage advice, particularly when animal welfare is concerned. However, puppets, well that is a completely different story.
The magic of puppetry is that if the cast believes then so does everyone else. The puppetry in this is sublime and a written description does not even justify the visual impact when they are on stage.
(All images: Credit Brinkhoff-Moegenburg)
WAR HORSE Uk and Ireland Tour 2024
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The full-grown horses are life scale. The actors can sit on them and ride them. They are controlled by three people and the physicality in doing this is immense.
Alongside the horses there are a few cheeky birds including a rather hilarious goose who does steal the show a bit with his comedy timing.
This is an incredibly poignant story which in current troubled times rings only as a warning sign.
It portrays the futility of war and the innocents used as pawns in politicians games.
A heartwarming moment is when two opposing soldiers’ bond over the well being of the horse – and there was not a dry eye in the house.
Tom Sturgess as Albert gave a phenomenal heart-warming performance. His bond with Joey is so tender and believable.
This is a strong ensemble with some of the most highly trained actors in the country with an impressive experience of physical theatre and story telling behind them.
The singer was played by Anne-Marie Piazza who gave a faultless narrative by song throughout the show.
Brace yourself before this show, it will blow away all your emotions and cause the most stone hearted to weep buckets.
War Horse is a powerful performance and provides a brilliant education of the impact of WW1 and the tremendous part our much loved pets and animals played in saving our country.
This is one of National Theatres most prestigious productions. Please bring more to the stages of Stoke- on-Trent!
5 Stars
