I nearly missed seeing War Horse on stage in Sydney only getting to it's second last performance last Saturday evening as a means of breaking the cabin fever I was experiencing being stuck at home all day because of heavy rain.
Until then I had resisted going to see the show fearing that I would be bored by the puppetry and not find it as lifelike as the rave reviews had reported.
How wrong was I! The horse puppetry is quite wonderful. I would never have imagined feeling emotional about the fate of the horses but I was.
The plot is quite straight forward. A teenager's close bonds with a horse he has groomed and trained since it was a foal are torn when his father sells it to the army as a War Horse for the 1914/18 Great War. Underage, the teenager runs away to search for his horse in the mud and trenches of France and Belgium.
It is an unmistakeably sentimental work illustrated with strikingly simple but effective staging. The musical accompaniment appears authentic to the period and events.
A very fine entertainment.
★★★★
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would too. The pot was a bit thin, but the stage effect were fantastic!
ReplyDeleteEvol, my thoughts exactly. Good to hear from you, hope you are well.
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