People are flocking to see this incredible, mesmerising play and after seeing it, I understand why. Set during the Great War, the stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's children's novel, War Horse, is an emotional yet uplifting tale told through incredibly advanced puppets, terrific acting and soul-stirring folk music (just have to make this clear - it's a play with music, not a musical. There's a difference). The technicality of the sophisticated life-sized horse puppets (made by the Handspring Puppet Company) is very impressive indeed. Made out of skeletal bamboo frames and internal hinges, they have successfully created a realistic puppet of a horse that gives the puppeteers controlling them the ability to bring the horse to life. Three people control the horse; one at the head, one for the front legs (who takes on most the weight) and one to control the rear. My favourite bit about Joey was that you could tell when he was calm, stressed or frightened by the way his 'breathing' was controlled by the puppeteer in the middle. If he was calm, the horse's body would move up and down to illustrate slow breathing and if he was stressed then breathing would become dense and heavy. Very cleverly done. Undoubtedly the stars of the show remains to be the puppeteers who make the life-like frames spark to life. A million horses were sent to France during World War I. Just 62,000 came home. War Horse is the story of just one – Joey. I've read the book and seen Steven Speilberg's movie adaptation so I knew the story off-by-heart. In saying that, I was not prepared for the emotions that were brought of me when seeing the story come to life right before my eyes. There's something about live theatre that allows you to become so much more immersed into a story than you have ever been before. I want to say the set designs were 'simple', however it worked incredibly well. The focus was always on the horses. I think if there were big extravagant set designs, all the attention would be taken away from these very well-constructed puppets. The minimal set left much to the imagination and it worked so well that sometimes I actually felt like I was in France during the Great War. In comparison, I have not seen as many plays as I have musicals. Even so, I can honestly say that War Horse is my personal favourite play I have had the joy to see live and I can't see that changing any time soon. It will take something completely out-of-this world to knock War Horse of its' so rightly given podium. __________________________________________________________________ Rating: ★★★★★ Comment: I am still not over how alive they made the puppets appear to be. My mind has not yet recovered from the wonder of this genius play. Have you seen War Horse? Do you agree or disagree with any of the points I have made? If so, I'd love to here from you so send me a message and let me know which production you saw! | |
0 Comments
|
Hello there, friend!Welcome to my blog. I tend ramble on a bit about theatre, books and Disney. Archives
October 2016
Categories
All
|