War Horse: Theatre Review

War Horse is an absolutely outstanding play. It’s probably my favourite show to see on stage. It’s incredibly emotional, moving and powerful, with outstanding puppetry as well. Here’s my War Horse theatre review.

Overview of War Horse – the play on stage

War Horse is a really memorable and impressive play on stage. I love this show – so my War Horse theatre review is super positive.

War Horse on stage follows the same story as the book by Michael Morpurgo, and also the film. It follows the story of a boy called Albert and his horse, Joey. However, it’s definitely not a children’s story. The play on stage is incredibly moving and emotional, with some hear-wrenching scenes. So it’s definitely a play for adults and not children.

Albert gets his horse, Joey, when Joey is just a foal. They live on Albert’s family farm in Devon. Albert has to fight to keep Joey, when his alcoholic father wants to sell the horse to be able to pay the mortgage. But Albert forms a special bond with the horse, and fights to keep him. Albert teaches Joey to plough the fields, and they ride across the countryside together.

However, when World War One begins, Albert’s dad sells Joey to the army. Albert is devastated, and although he is only 16 years old, he vows to go to war to find Joey and bring him home.

Joey is subjected to the horrors of the First World War. The officer who bought him is killed by machine gun fire in battle, and Joey is then owned by the Germans. He makes friends with a black horse, Topthorn. The two horses have some brief respite when they end up on a small girl’s farm in Belgium, but they’re soon back to the horrors of war. They pull ambulance carriages, and then pull the machine guns through the trenches.

I won’t give a spoiler of the ending of the show, as the suspense about how it ends is really powerful. The play continues to follow Joey’s journey through the war, and also Albert’s journey as he joins the war and tries to find his horse.

What I liked about War Horse on stage

The heart-wrenching emotion

I found War Horse on stage incredibly emotional and moving. I was crying for about two thirds of the show. And I think most of the audience around me was crying too. You just get so attached to the horse. And Albert’s love for his horse is so powerful. You really get the sense that this horse means everything to Albert, and he’ll do anything for his horse. It’s such a pure form of love – between a horse and a boy.

It’s heart-wrenching to see Joey suffer in the war. And it’s also heart-wrenching to see the suffering of the humans in the war as well. The play doesn’t shy away from dealing with the difficult aspects of war, with the deaths of people and horses clearly shown. The fact that this play is based on true events and there really were these awful horrors in history, makes it even more poignant.

My favourite scenes

There were so many scenes in this play that I loved, it’s hard to pick favourites. But one scene definitely sticks in my memory. There’s a scene where Joey runs in a panic across No Man’s Land between the British and German trenches. And Joey gets stuck in the barbed wire. The men from both sides see that a horse is stuck, and one man from each side gets out of the trenches to go to the horse. The scene is portrayed really well on stage, with the people just below stage height on each side of the stage, and the horse in the middle.

When the British and the German men reach the horse, they work together to free the horse. They then decide who gets to keep Joey by tossing a coin. There’s a darkly humorous line of dialogue, where they reference ‘not wanting to start a war over this’, and how ‘if only the world leaders could have solved their conflict as easily’. The two men then part ways and go back to fighting. I found this scene so moving – how the two men from opposite sides of the war worked together and almost became friends for 5 minutes so they could save the horse. And then they had to go back to fighting. It was a reminder of the senseless killing in wars, and how there’s still a good side to human nature even in the midst of a war.

Another of my favourite scenes is the ending. I won’t give the spoilers, even though I really want to write about it. But I definitely needed many tissues in the final scene, I was crying so much.

I also loved the goose! The goose puppet definitely provided a few minutes of much-needed comic relief, and was just one of the many details of this show that made it special.

Music

The show also uses music really well. There’s a female character with an amazing voice who sings some songs. Some of these songs add to the ‘countryside’ feel, and others add to the sadness of war. And other parts of the show having music in the background. The music in War Horse at the theatre really adds to the emotion and the drama of the show.

Puppetry of the horses

The stage show of War Horse only works so well on stage because of the amazing puppetry. The puppets of the horses are amazing. The most detailed puppets are the horses Joey and Topthorn. But there are other, less detailed horse puppets as well in scenes where there need to be more horses.

The way the actors on stage move the puppets is just amazing. They must have studied the movements of horses for ages – because they manage to make the horse puppets so realistic and life-like. It’s difficult to describe without seeing it. You can get so caught up in the story that you can easily forget that they’re puppets – they move like real horses. Even when the dialogue or the moment of the play isn’t focussed directly on the horse, the horses are still moving and reacting in the background just as a real horse would. From tail flicks to subtle movements of the horse’s ears, to a gently nudge from the horse or a look of sudden alertness…it’s just amazing. The actors even ride the horses on stage as well.

The amazing puppetry is what makes this show so emotional. It works because you believe the horses are real, and you feel real emotion for the animals. And you feel real attachment for Joey, like Albert feels. And that’s what makes War Horse such a special show on stage.

What I wasn’t so sure about

There wasn’t any part of War Horse on stage in the theatre that I didn’t like. I loved this play, and was an emotional mess all the way through.

Would I recommend War Horse on stage

I would definitely recommend going to see War Horse on stage. My War Horse theatre review is super positive, so I would definitely recommend it. I’d only caution that it is an emotional show – so be prepared, and bring tissues. And it’s definitely not suitable for young children. But it’s an amazing show for adults, and definitely my favourite play on stage.