Directed by Tom Morris

Revival Director Katie Henry

Designed by Rae Smith

Puppets by Adiran Kohler for Handspring Puppet Company

Review by Annie Aslett

Tickets from £15.00

Quoted in the programme for the 2024/25 tour of War Horse, the creators of the production say that they have leaned into the idea that “audiences create theatre”. As theatregoers, we impart our own experiences and emotions onto the story being told on stage, finding parallels with our lives that allow us to invest in what we know to be pretend. A show like War Horse works so well, therefore, because the central character is non-speaking – he is, in fact, a large puppet horse. With no script, Joey can be innocent, heroic, damaged, vulnerable, and spirited – whatever our imaginations tell us to be true. Having conjured this narrative for ourselves, audience members feel a profound emotional link to the puppets’ well-being.

Admirable and poetic though this creative philosophy is, I’m reluctant to confer too much credit to we, the audience, for the emotional rollercoaster that is the National Theatre’s production of War Horse. My imagination certainly had a helping hand.

Rae Smith’s design is simple yet evocative; a scrap of paper unfurled across the back of the stage, displaying Smith’s drawings of countryside scenes and trench warfare, animated by Nicol Scott and Ben Pearcy. The wartime songs that punctuate emotional scenes, performed by Sally Swanson as ‘The Singer’, are hauntingly beautiful. The staging and puppetry (more on this later) are innovative and transporting. However, I will give my imagination some credit for the tragic horseback charge scene in the first act, when soldiers are thrown from their horses in a slow-motion tableau. Dramatic, flared lighting tries to trick our eyes into seeing the actors themselves being launched through the air – blink at the wrong time, however, and the uniforms-on-sticks are pretty tough to believe. 

The human actors, led by Tom Sturgess as Albert Narracott, are studied portraits of everyday people from all sides of the war, thrown into impossible situations. Sure, the cast also includes the expected range of traditional, one-dimensional World War I characters – a foghorn British sergeant, a sharp matron, a menacing German soldier – but the characters that are allowed more time in the script are deftly written and acted. Sturgess is earnest to the point of annoyance, perfect for his portrayal of 16-year-old Albert, a naïve country lad and soulmate to Joey, the horse. Alexander Ballinger provides much-needed comedic relief in the darker second act as Captain Müller, who cares for Joey and Topthorn when they are caught behind German lines. Charismatic as these actors are, and poignant as the script is, each character is lent infinitely more warmth and heart by their interactions with the puppets.

Central to the success of every element of the production are horses Joey and Topthorn, as well as the puppeteers and choreography that bring them to life. Designed by Handspring Puppet Company and choreographed by Toby Sedgwick, these moving sculptures are so vital and convincing that you forget they are made of aluminium. Each manoeuvred by a trio of puppeteers (the Head, Heart and Hind), the horses are impossible not to fall in love with – every flick of the tail, tilt of the ears and harrumph come together to create an equine personality that speaks volumes. Not to mention The Goose, seemingly mounted on a distance measuring wheel, who is among my top three favourite characters in the whole show.

Now twenty years in, this production of War Horse paved the way for ambitious puppet theatre to grow legs, as proven by subsequent award-winning spectacles such as Life of Pi, Spirited Away, and My Neighbour Totoro. As is the fate of all trailblazers, certain elements are improved upon by later productions; where War Horse still dominates is the purity of the relationship between audience, human, and puppet. 

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