Produced by The National Theatre of Great Britain and Global Creatures
Puppetry by Handspring Puppet
Company
State Theatre, Melbourne Arts Centre
Monday Dec 31, 2012 to March 3, 2013
(previews Dec 23 -30, 2012)
Stars: ****1/2
A truncated version of my review appeared on Jan 1, 2013 in the News Pages and Arts page online in the Herald Sun. The following longer review will not be published in the paper. KH
A truncated version of my review appeared on Jan 1, 2013 in the News Pages and Arts page online in the Herald Sun. The following longer review will not be published in the paper. KH
Photo by Joe Calleri
‘NEVER perform
with children or animals,’ warns the old theatre adage, but in War Horse, the
actors are upstaged and outshone by puppets: enormous, expressive
horses that breathe, whinny and pulsate with muscular power and equine grace.
The excitement was palpable at last night’s New Year’s Even
opening of the Australian production of this Tony and Olivier Award-winning
play and the audience was peppered with Australian celebrities: Nick Cave, Magda Szubanski, Hugh
Sheridan, Josh Thomas and Christie Whelan.
Adapted by Nick Stafford from Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 novel,
War Horse is an epic tale about Albert (Cody Fern), a boy from a Devon village,
who hunts for his beloved horse, Joey, during World War One, after Albert’s desperate father, Ted (Ian Bliss), sells Joey to
the British cavalry.
Although the stage is nearly bare to accommodate the
galloping, rearing creatures, Rae Smith’s line drawings, projected onto a
suspended screen resembling a huge, torn scrap of paper, transport us through
time and space, from 1912 to 1918 and from Devon to France.
There are poignant scenes that will twang the heartstrings
of horse lovers as well as those touched by the tragedies of war including the
horrors of boy soldiers fighting in trenches and cavalry horses faced with
barbed wire and machine guns.
Photo by Joe Calleri
With masterly manipulation, twelve skilful puppeteers breathe
life into 18 puppets created by Handspring Puppet Company, including the
uncannily lifelike, russet Joey and his pal, Topthorn, a dark beauty to rival
Black Caviar, multiple cavalry horses and even an intrepid, hilarious goose.
The wartime period and landscape are evoked through British
folk tunes sung live (Dave Evan, John Thompson) with piano accordion and these
are counterpointed with a volatile soundscape of battlefield gunfire,
explosions and music (Adrian Sutton, Christopher Shutt).
The production, directed originally by Marianne Elliott and
Tom Morris then remounted in Australia by Drew Barr, boasts 33 actors and creates
broad, cinematic stage pictures with its tableaux of English country life and
stylised battles at The Somme.
This production was designed for young audiences and
families, so perhaps we must suspend any criticism of its slim story, shallow
characterisations, simplified view of war, intermittent shameless
sentimentalism and melodramatic style.
Actors’ accents establish character and place, but the
English accents are more successful than the uncomfortable German and French
accents that could be more effectively replaced by the German and French
language used in the London production.
Translating the sprawling narrative of a novel onto stage is
difficult and, in this case, the human characters are not fully developed and
their dialogue is sometimes prosaic, expository or preachy.
Cody captures young Albert’s youthful urgency but his
insistent, earnest vocal tone becomes repetitive.
Photo by Joe Calleri
Natasha Herbert is moving and credible as Albert’s mum, the
reliable, stoical farmer’s wife, Bliss is suitably resentful as his boozing,
jealous, wastrel dad, while Nicholas Bell is smug and imperious as Albert’s
uncle, the village war hero.
War Horse captures the unswerving bond of a boy and his
horse, the propaganda of war and the horror and heroism of the battlefield and
its contrast with the bucolic peace of the English countryside – and you can almost smell the sweat and
leather and hear the galloping hooves of those magnificent horses.
Kate Herbert
Photo by Joe Calleri
WAR HORSE CREATIVE TEAM CREDITS
Directors: Marianne Elliott & Tom Morris
Director, Australian production: Drew Barr
Puppetry:Handspring Puppet Company (Adrian Kohler & Basil Jones)
Music: Adrian Sutton
Songmaker: Tams
Sound: Christopher Shutt
Lighting: Paule Constable
Design: Rae Smith
Video design: Leo Warner & Mark Grimmer
WAR HORSE CAST CREDITSTHE PEOPLE
James Bell Billy / Ludwig
Nicholas Bell Arthur / Sgt Thunder
Ian Bliss Ted /Strauss
Adam Booth Stewart /Heine
Mark Constable Carter / Klebb / Manfred
Andre de Vanny David
Mischana Dellora-Cornish Ensemble Girl / Baby Joey / Annie Gilbert
Dave Evans Songman
Cody Fern Albert
Natasha Herbert Rose
Anna Houston Ensemble Woman / Matron Callaghan
Belinda Jombwe Emilie
Rory Kelly Ensemble Boy / Baby Joey
Drew Livingston Acting Ensemble Swing
Dale March Nicholls / Paddy/ Dr Schweyk / Heine
Kenneth Moraleda Ensemble Man / Vet Martin
Emma Palmer Paulette / Baby Joey
Gareth Reeves Klausen / Allan
John Thompson Songman
Andrew Tighe Priest / Friedrich
Karlis Zaid Bone / Fine / Schnabel
THE HORSES
Nick Barlow Joey – Head
Kailah Cabanas Joey/Topthorn - Head
Michael Cullen Topthorn – Heart
Nick Eaton Joey – Heart
Grant Foulkes Joey/Topthorn - Heart
Lincoln Hall Topthorn – Hind
Kiera Lyons Joey/Topthorn – Hind
Ben McIvor Joey/Topthorn – Hind
Sarah Nelson Joey - Hind
John Shearman Joey/Topthorn – Head
Michael Wahr Joey/Topthorn – Head
Drew Wilson Joey/Topthorn – Heart
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