War Horse Review
Sep. 28th, 2010 01:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
burntcopperWar Horse, New London Theatre
Okay, this is a tad late, given that I saw it last Monday.
WW1 setting, farmboy's horse gets sold to the local regiment's officer for the war effort, he sneaks off to enlist to bring it home. Cue world war 1 horrors. Horses done as life-size wicker puppets that move *perfectly* (I was with someone who keeps horses and apparently they've even got the injured movements down pat.) I'd say it was nearly worth seeing for the awe-inspiring puppetry alone.
Starts with half-thoroughbred foal being sold at auction in Devon, farmer drunkenly buys it at a ridiculously inflated price so his brother won't get it. Brings home, wife wallops him around the ear and gives it to the son to raise so they can recoup their money when it's grown. Son gets v. attached to horse (name's Joey). Due to dad making another drunken bet, horse also taught to pull a plough. (which it should not be able to since it's a hunter and not built for it) This first bit is really good for the whole family dynamic - mum trying to keep the family and farm together, son trying to avoid the dad, etc, letting you get really awe-inspired by the puppetry. oh, and the goose. The goose is fucking hysterical. In the meantime, one of the local officers has been keeping an eye on Joey and occasionally sketching him, clearly with an eye to buying him for the cavalry.
WW1 gets declared, half the village joins up, and there's a call for horses - and dad sells Joey for the money when the son's out. Which is technically what he was being raised for. Son is of course furious.
Transfer to the regiment going overseas - very well done bit of getting the horses onto the boat, disembarkation and then... oh christ. First charge. Straight into the guns. Where they go slow-mo and the bangs and light and some of the horses do a full flip as they get hit. Joey's officer is very clearly killed, scene changes to Devon where they get the first reports of most of the regiment being killed at Christmas. Boy receives officer's sketchbook of Joey, sneaks out in the middle of the night to join up to see if he can find Joey.
France. new regiment getting moved in, a piece of pure brilliance with their new sarge (interestingly, it appears american sergeants don't communicate entirely in sarcasm as companion was making surprised noises) introducing them to the situation.
Second cavalry charge, Joey and another horse + riders are captured by Germans. Where we're intro'd to the German cavalry officer who's really pissed off about what he's seen happening to the horses and simply wants to get back home. And take the horses with him so thye can have a decent life. From here it's very interesting, since now the play is now in a mix of german, french and english - french characters such as the farmgirl and her mum will talk mostly in french with a few english phrases but only when trying to communicate with the german officers, the germans slip in and out of german and english (some of them only speaking in german) and yes, you find out that you really do remember more german and french then you thought. Though it turns out I know more than companion since I had to translate a few times. 'She just said the horse needs water and he was clearly blind'. Don't worry. Very easily gettable, since most of the audience laughs in the right places and a lot of it was made up of kids. They make it very clear that nearly all of them are struggling to understand one another.
Anyway. plot from there is germans hiding out on farm, boy talking to his mate in the trenches (with a truly horrifying bit of going over the top), other germans coming in (including a complete psycho), and Joey's life being pretty much saved because it turns out having learnt to take harness to pull a plough means he can be put to work pulling the ambulance cart rather'n going back into the cavalry. Which later becomes pulling a gun when the other horses drop dead. And oh god. Not something you really want to see since they really hammer it home how much they were starved and drop dead in the traces (skeletal horse puppets GAHHHHHHH).
As with all good stage direction, a lot of it's done with sound and light and it's brilliant. Shells, barbed wire - there are audible points where audience is whimpering or going 'oh god no' or the other classic, crying. (also helped by most of the UK audience having the horrors of WW1 hammered in so when one character talks about going over the top, there's an indrawn breath from the audience) Very minimalist projection across the top of the stage to emphasises shell bursts, sea crossings, changes of scenery, emotion, etc. Brilliant acting all round. Geese. Puppetry (not just the horses, there's a tank). Ack. Forgot singing. They do a lot of singing, using folk and army tunes - normally one bloke with an accordion, sometimes the entire onstage company. Used for scene transitions, emphasising stuff, all kinds and it really adds to the tension and a lot of juxtaposition of lyrics (cheery war ballads for the win while people are getting blown up!) with onstage action.
Okay, this is a tad late, given that I saw it last Monday.
WW1 setting, farmboy's horse gets sold to the local regiment's officer for the war effort, he sneaks off to enlist to bring it home. Cue world war 1 horrors. Horses done as life-size wicker puppets that move *perfectly* (I was with someone who keeps horses and apparently they've even got the injured movements down pat.) I'd say it was nearly worth seeing for the awe-inspiring puppetry alone.
Starts with half-thoroughbred foal being sold at auction in Devon, farmer drunkenly buys it at a ridiculously inflated price so his brother won't get it. Brings home, wife wallops him around the ear and gives it to the son to raise so they can recoup their money when it's grown. Son gets v. attached to horse (name's Joey). Due to dad making another drunken bet, horse also taught to pull a plough. (which it should not be able to since it's a hunter and not built for it) This first bit is really good for the whole family dynamic - mum trying to keep the family and farm together, son trying to avoid the dad, etc, letting you get really awe-inspired by the puppetry. oh, and the goose. The goose is fucking hysterical. In the meantime, one of the local officers has been keeping an eye on Joey and occasionally sketching him, clearly with an eye to buying him for the cavalry.
WW1 gets declared, half the village joins up, and there's a call for horses - and dad sells Joey for the money when the son's out. Which is technically what he was being raised for. Son is of course furious.
Transfer to the regiment going overseas - very well done bit of getting the horses onto the boat, disembarkation and then... oh christ. First charge. Straight into the guns. Where they go slow-mo and the bangs and light and some of the horses do a full flip as they get hit. Joey's officer is very clearly killed, scene changes to Devon where they get the first reports of most of the regiment being killed at Christmas. Boy receives officer's sketchbook of Joey, sneaks out in the middle of the night to join up to see if he can find Joey.
France. new regiment getting moved in, a piece of pure brilliance with their new sarge (interestingly, it appears american sergeants don't communicate entirely in sarcasm as companion was making surprised noises) introducing them to the situation.
Second cavalry charge, Joey and another horse + riders are captured by Germans. Where we're intro'd to the German cavalry officer who's really pissed off about what he's seen happening to the horses and simply wants to get back home. And take the horses with him so thye can have a decent life. From here it's very interesting, since now the play is now in a mix of german, french and english - french characters such as the farmgirl and her mum will talk mostly in french with a few english phrases but only when trying to communicate with the german officers, the germans slip in and out of german and english (some of them only speaking in german) and yes, you find out that you really do remember more german and french then you thought. Though it turns out I know more than companion since I had to translate a few times. 'She just said the horse needs water and he was clearly blind'. Don't worry. Very easily gettable, since most of the audience laughs in the right places and a lot of it was made up of kids. They make it very clear that nearly all of them are struggling to understand one another.
Anyway. plot from there is germans hiding out on farm, boy talking to his mate in the trenches (with a truly horrifying bit of going over the top), other germans coming in (including a complete psycho), and Joey's life being pretty much saved because it turns out having learnt to take harness to pull a plough means he can be put to work pulling the ambulance cart rather'n going back into the cavalry. Which later becomes pulling a gun when the other horses drop dead. And oh god. Not something you really want to see since they really hammer it home how much they were starved and drop dead in the traces (skeletal horse puppets GAHHHHHHH).
As with all good stage direction, a lot of it's done with sound and light and it's brilliant. Shells, barbed wire - there are audible points where audience is whimpering or going 'oh god no' or the other classic, crying. (also helped by most of the UK audience having the horrors of WW1 hammered in so when one character talks about going over the top, there's an indrawn breath from the audience) Very minimalist projection across the top of the stage to emphasises shell bursts, sea crossings, changes of scenery, emotion, etc. Brilliant acting all round. Geese. Puppetry (not just the horses, there's a tank). Ack. Forgot singing. They do a lot of singing, using folk and army tunes - normally one bloke with an accordion, sometimes the entire onstage company. Used for scene transitions, emphasising stuff, all kinds and it really adds to the tension and a lot of juxtaposition of lyrics (cheery war ballads for the win while people are getting blown up!) with onstage action.
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-28 02:21 pm (UTC)The music is fantastic. I was chatting with my workmates about the West End and how musicals seem to only be successful if they're reruns or if they're jukebox shows, but what's actually happening is that original musicals are doing well - but only if they're not marketed as musicals.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-28 04:10 pm (UTC)What do you think? From what you say it does sound pretty intense.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-29 08:29 am (UTC)Yes, rather intense, but since that's the point of it...
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Date: 2010-09-29 09:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-28 05:55 pm (UTC)A quick question: do the trench scenes involve much in the way of pyrotechnics? - I'm a little twitchy in the vicinity of things that look and sound like small arms.
(Long story, but I've a fairly ingrained instinct to take cover when something goes 'bang!' in my direction.)
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Date: 2010-09-29 08:28 am (UTC)