Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The Remarkable War Horse, Joey, and His Play

I was lucky enough to get tickets to a performance of the play War Horse at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center on the second night of previews, and want to relate my experience and thoughts on this remarkable event that involves full-sized horse (and other) puppets. You might have caught the commercials on TV which give a quick glimpse of these remarkable creations. You will want to see them up close!

War Horse is a adaptation for the stage by Nick Stafford of the child's novel of the same name by Michael Morpurgo, the British Children's Laureate for 2003-05, which also serves as the basis for the Steven Spielberg film due later this year. It was first performed at the National Theatre in London in 2007 where it enjoyed three years of sold out performances. The development of the play from origins in the National Theatre Studio and the puppets by the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa are chronicled on the DVD Making War Horse sold at the Beaumont and by Amazon.co.uk. The commitment to the idea from start to finish by all involved is unbelievable, particularly because the horse, Joey, in the novel, speaks in the first person, and it was clear that the horse on stage would not.

The playtext is published by Faber & Faber in the UK, but this book was withdrawn from sale at the Beaumont just as I tried to buy it, for obscure reasons, so I ordered it from Amazon.co.uk. Mr. Stafford prefaces the play with the following comments:

Joey - the central character - Alice his mother, and Topthorn are all horses. None of them speaks, but all - especially Joey - have detailed throughlines.

This involves many more stage directions than is normal in a stage play, and these barely indicate the detailed relationships between horse and human that need to be plotted to tell this story. A full description of the horses' movements and reactions would be a script in itself. Therefore what follows is indicated to be sufficient to begin.

The mother horse, Alice, does not appear in the current play, nor on the DVD, so her part was obviously cut early on. What you cannot imagine without seeing the play is the host of other puppet characters that appear, from barn swallows on long poles, to vultures on the battlefield, to a cantankerous goose that pecks and flaps and chases in comic relief that becomes as real as the horses.

On the DVD an actor playing Albert confesses that he was worried how much his acting would be needed to confer realism to the horses, but his fears were allayed when paired with the puppet horses. Handspring puppets in this and previous performances always breathe. When standing still their chests rise and fall, tails twitch, and heads bob. Although their eyes are fixed you will swear they are not as they catch the stage lights. The horses become real despite the external handlers and internal carriers. Unlike the play Peter & Wendy, in which all characters are puppets, the handlers in War Horse are not concealed. They stand in period garb, there, visible but invisible both.

Mr. Morpurgo states on the DVD that he wanted to write a book about war without taking sides. He wanted to portray the concept and horrors of war and decided that the plight of the military horses during World War I was the perfect vehicle. According to the Playbill, a million horses were shipped to Europe from Britain, but only 62,000 returned. Perhaps 5 million horses perished in the War to End All Wars. WWI saw the first machine guns, barbed wire and tanks, none of which were compatible with cavalry troops. Both sides were kind to their own horses, however, giving Morpurgo the level playing field he desired.

The play starts with a young Albert and his father, prone to drink, and, while drunk, prone to resist playing second fiddle to his brother, Albert's uncle, by making outlandish bets and purchases he can ill afford. One such purchase is the horse Joey, a "hunter," the foal of a thoroughbred and a draught horse, unfit for farm work. Albert quickly bonds with Joey, communicating with a "hoot" made with his hands and mouth. On another bet the father almost loses Albert by claiming he can be taught to plow, but Albert remarkably gets Joey to accept a harness and plow, with the agreement that Joey was now his. Unfortunately his father learns that the military is buying horses for the war and sells Joey without Albert's permission. Although the officer who rides Joey knows he is special, he cannot protect him on the battlefield. Joey falls into the hands of a German officer who is as kind to Joey as Albert. Joey's life is spared when he lowers his head, essentially volunteering, to accept the harness of a first aid wagon, which the other horses would not do. If your eyes do not fill with tears at this point you are probably the only one in the theater without.

Albert volunteers for service, now that he is old enough, convinced that he will be reunited with Joey, despite the improbability.

Albert carries with him a sketch of Joey ripped in a strip from a sketchbook. The stage has as its backdrop nothing but darkness, but overhead is a stage-wide ripped-strip shaped screen onto which dates and scenes of the farm, the village, the battlefield are projected. Flashes of light into they audience's eyes are battlefield explosions. There are also songs, chosen by John Tams, a British musical historian and performer, the lyrics of which serve to bring unity to the performers on stage at the time, whether townspeople or soldiers.

The battlefield scenes are nasty and scary. Barbed wire is, in this performance, plastic spirals of razor wire, quickly strung across the stage. (In the National Theatre production it looks more like old-fashioned barbed wire.) Horses fall and die, their handlers' bodies strewn lifeless on the stage. A puppet tank rears and rumbles across the terrain, its headlights blinding. Lights flash, smoke billows, the sound system cracks with explosions.

Of course, as is fitting for a child's story, Albert does find Joey, and their joy is palpable, as is your own. You will leave the theater exhausted, and yet with a second wind.

If there are any tickets left you ought to buy one as soon as possible. War Horse is an Event for All Time. See it!