REVIEW: War Horse at Sunderland Empire

War Horse

Sunderland Empire

Until Saturday 16 November 2024

Running either side of Remembrance Sunday, this show is a poignant reminder of some of the sacrifices made during the Great War. Based on a war novel by Michael Morpurgo about the First World War, the tale moved to the stage in 2007 ahead of the 2011 Steven Spielberg movie.

Amongst the men and boys there was slaughter,  but animals too paid the ultimate price. In order to make this story work on stage, the focus is made on a 16 year old lad Albert (Tom Sturgess) passing himself off as 19 so he can join the war effort and his horse Joey.

The play begins as Joey is bought in auction by a farmer Ted (Karl Haynes) in competition with his brother Arthur (Gareth Radcliffe). Pride ensures that he has paid over the odds so the young horse has a lot to prove. The farmer's wife Rose (Jo Castleton) decides that their son should raise the beast. 

Creating the actions and movement of each horse is literally on the shoulders of a team of three who create the mannerisms that help bring the beast, and ultimately the story to life. The puppetry makes this production stand out, in my opinion, head and shoulders above the later films adaptation. Joey as a Foal was operated by Diany Samba-Bandza, Jordan Paris & Eloise Beaumont-Wood, and they cleverly showed the young horses first nervous moves. Older Joey was brought to life by: Rianna Ash operating the head, Lewis McBean in the centre/heart and Michael Larcombe in the hind quarters.

Joey the horse and its family are put through their paces with challenges such as ploughing a field, given that the horse isn't naturally a breed that would be selected for such work. This gives a real challenge for the horse operatives to bring the animal emotionally to life.

Then war breaks out. Men enlist, full of hope that the campaign will be over by Christmas, and horses are bought for good money by the army for the anticipated campaign. 

This is a family friendly story and school children make up a significant proportion of the audience. For some children, this will be the entry point of empathising with those who gave their lives so that they can enjoy their current freedoms. To that point the story is, perhaps, somewhat sanitised when compared to, say, All Quiet On The Western Front. That is not to say that people and horses don't die and the leaders have a mad Blackadder quality. The black space at the rear of the stage is used to good effect to leave some nasty stuff to ones imagination.

A large ensemble cast fill in a variety of roles from villagers, soldiers and medical staff. Clearly some rapid costume changes are needed as the changes are seamless. It is interesting that a decision was made to make the French and Germans speak English, resulting in the repeated situation of two groups of people talking English on stage and saying "but I don't understand what you are saying as I cannot speak your language" on stage on a number of occasions. We are shown that both sides of the war consisted on ordinary people who had been sucked into the theatre of conflict.

A few contemporaneous songs add a folk voice to a number of the scenes. The single pure sounding female voice was used to add emotive context to the scene.

It is easy to see why the show gets the praise that it has enjoyed since it first opened. The horses come alive and a great piece of storytelling make this a theatrical firm favourite. 

Review: Stephen Oliver 

Photos: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg

On the web:

Instagram: @warhorseonstage 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/warhorseonstage/?locale=en_GB 

Twitter: @warhorseonstage

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