But between the beginning and the
end we see a play made to look and feel like a movie. Music and
special effects, short scenes, split stage, all work to create an
impression that sticks with you. One could also call it an opera
without arias. There were a couple of singers who sang a ballad-like
comment on and narrative of Joey's story, but I found I didn't need
to get all the words; the songs were part of the ambiance of the
production.
Everybody must know by now that the
horses (and some other animals) are represented by life-
size puppets
worked by puppeteers that we see at all times. The puppets are
semi-abstract, but their movements are lifelike. The effect is
amusing, amazing, but above all moving.
The war scenes are the most
terrifying I've ever seen in a theatre. I don't like war movies, and
this play was at times hard to take. I remember enough of the sounds
of bombs that the simulations of shell fire made me shake. In many
ways the play was depressing, despite the happy ending. Most of the
audience around me did not react as I did: they weren't old enough to
have had any direct experience of war. They were quite jolly. But a
few found the prospect of Joey's life on the battlefield difficult to
imagine.
Do I recommend this play? Yes.
Purely as stage craft it's impressive. It reminds me of Les
Miserables, another attempt to
create a multimedia effect on stage. But War Horse
succeeds. It's an anti-war play, with the innocent horses standing in
for all the innocent victims of war, including the soldiers, who are
after all ordinary men used for terrible purposes by the wagers of
war. ****
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