Search

Toggle dark mode:

Saved articles

You have not yet added any article to your bookmarks!

Browse articles

GDPR Compliance

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service.

War Horse

 
Stephanie Green Review by Stephanie Green 5 Published: 3 Oct 2025 Festival Theatre Show Dates: 2 Oct 2025-11 Oct 2025

Would this show live up to the hype? A resounding YES. Powerful, hugely imaginative and devastating. In these troubled times and war in Gaza and Ukraine it is sad but also deeply relevant today that this show, War Horse, adapted by Nick Stafford from Michael Morpurgo’s novel, should be revived. As Morpurgo himself said: “It’s about the pity of war, a horse and a boy” – Joey and Albert. The original, directed by Tom Morris, was the National Theatre’s most successful production, a global phenomenon performed in 14 countries, seen by 8 million people, running since 2007 for seven years until the pandemic. Now, after a five-year break, it’s back under the direction of Katie Henry.

The pity and waste of war is clear. Yes, reader, I cried

Who would have thought back in 2007 that, due to War Horse, puppetry would become mainstream in the UK, although in eastern Europe and Russia it had long been valued in shows not only for children but for adults, even of the classics. Its success is due to the amazing South African puppetry company Handspring’s stunningly realistic horses, not only Joey but his companion Topthorn and several other more shadowy horses in the war scenes. Despite being made mainly of canvas and bicycle wire, their workings and puppeteers visible, it does not take long to forget the puppeteers as the horse (each with three puppeteers, one at the head) appears to breathe, ears twitch, tails swish, and they neigh and snicker just like the real animal. But it is the emotion between the boy and horse, and later men and horses, that makes this superb drama.

The story starts in a Devon village, where Joey, a hunter gifted to Albert, is degraded to plough horse, sold to the cavalry and shipped to serve in the first world war pulling carts of heavy guns or of the dead and wounded. Albert, aged 16, enlists and follows, searching for Joey. There is a parallel story of Albert’s dysfunctional family and eventual reconciliation. Full cast performances as villagers or soldiers are impressive.

The contrast between the village and the later war scenes is dramatic. There is also humour in the first half with another puppet, a goose which nips the backs of calves, contrasted in the war scenes with the sinister black raven puppets that peck out the eyes of the corpses.

The bucolic village is suggested by birdsong and bird puppets swooping through the air on long rods. Mood and atmosphere are echoed in the suspended screen, like a piece of torn-off parchment with delicate sketches of countryside and village scenes by Rae Smith. Later these are replaced in the war scenes by harsh drawings of warships and machinery, then silhouettes of soldiers in the trenches. Stunningly vivid light and sound, simulacra of gunfire and explosions, is truly frightening and act one prefigures this with a terrifying charge as if into the audience. Throughout, the two worlds are linked by the strong performance of folk singer Sally Swanson on accordion or solo.

Tom Sturgess as Albert is convincing as a naive but stubborn boy dedicated to his horse. Later, the performance of Alexander Ballinger as Captain Friedrich, a German deserter and also lover of horses, stands out. As the story moves from the trenches to no man’s land the stage is littered with corpses, both German and the Allies. It is the remarkable aspect of the show that both sides are represented, both are shown as humans and the pity and waste of war is clear. Yes, reader, I cried.

Amir Nisi

Stephanie Green

Stephanie Green has reviewed Theatre and Dance in Edinburgh since 2011 but previously travelled widely, mainly in Eastern Europe and Russia, writing about puppetry. She also studied shadow puppetry and sacred dance in Bali. In the 1970s, she trained as a puppeteer at the Little Angel, London and later worked at the alternative In the Heart of the Beast Mask and Puppet Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. After training at the Place, the London School of Contemporary Dance, in her 20s she then gave up dancing until starting again in her 60s just for fun. She has recently danced in a community group with Barrowland Ballet (at the Edinburgh Fringe, 2013), Oceanallover and at the South Bank, London as part of the Festival of the Silver Age. She is also a novelist, playwright and poet. www.stephaniegreen.org.uk/

Related to this article:

Location:

Performances

The Blurb:

The acclaimed National Theatre production  

War Horse 

Based on the beloved novel by Michael Morpurgo | Adapted by Nick Stafford In association with the award-winning Handspring Puppet Company 

The global phenomenon returns - War Horse is an unforgettable theatrical experience which takes audiences on an extraordinary journey from the fields of rural Devon to the trenches of First World War France. Based on the beloved novel by Michael Morpurgo, this powerfully moving and imaginative drama, filled with stirring music and songs, is a show of phenomenal inventiveness. At its heart are astonishing life-sized horses by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company, who bring breathing, galloping, charging horses to thrilling life on stage. 

At the outbreak of World War One, Joey, young Albert’s beloved horse, is sold to the Cavalry and shipped to France. He’s soon caught up in enemy fire, and fate takes him on an extraordinary journey, serving on both sides before finding himself alone in No Man’s Land. Albert, who remained on his parents’ Devon farm, cannot forget Joey. Though still not old enough to enlist, he embarks on a treacherous mission to find Joey and bring him home. 

The National Theatre's Partner for Financial Wellbeing, Charles Stanley, is supporting War Horse on tour.

Titanique
Les Miserables
Phantom of the Opera
Popular now
The Producers
Wicked
The Play That Goes Wrong