War Horse is a play based on the book of the same name by writer Michael Morpurgo, adapted for stage by Nick Stafford. Originally Morpurgo thought "they must be mad" to try to make a play from his best-selling 1982 novel; but the play was a great success. The play's West End and Broadway productions are directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris; it features life-size horse puppets by the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa, the movements of which were choreographed by Toby Sedgwick.
Synopsis A foal is auctioned for sale in Devon, the United Kingdom. Hoping to give it to his son Billy, Arthur Narracott bids on the foal; instead, his brother Ted competes with him and bids 39 guineas—an exorbitant amount that Arthur can't meet – and wins the foal. Ted is the local drunkard and thought to be a coward, for refusing to have fought together with his brother in the earlier Boer War in South Africa. At the auction, Ted used money reserved to pay his farm mortgage. Ted's wife Rose fears they will lose their farm. Their son Albert promises to raise the foal and train him for sale. The boy names the foal Joey, and forms a strong bond with the horse during training.
Jealous of his cousin Albert, Billy convinces his father to get Ted drunk and make a bet: if Joey (bred and trained as a hunter, not a plough horse) can be taught to plough within a week, Arthur will pay Ted 39 guineas, the auction price. If Joey won't plough, Billy gets the horse. Albert successfully teaches Joey to pull the plough and gets to keep him.
News of the outbreak of World War I reaches Devon. When Ted sells Joey to the cavalry, Albert is crushed. Captain James Nicholls, who often sketched Albert riding the hunter, promises that he will personally look after the fine horse. At the same time, Arthur enlists Billy to fight despite his protests. Arthur gives Billy his grandfather's knife for protection. Joey and Topthorn (another army horse) are shipped to France. The charges of the British cavalry are overwhelmed by the fire from German machine guns, representing their new technology. During the first charge, Nicholls is shot and killed. Billy is assigned to ride Joey into battle and is captured by German troops.
Nicholls's sketchbook is sent to Albert, who learns Joey is serving "unprotected" in France. He lies about his age, enlists in the army and goes to France. There he befriends Private David Taylor, a fellow soldier.
The Germans have taken Billy to a French farm being used as a makeshift hospital. He is killed brandishing his knife. Emilie, the girl of the farm family, is nearly killed in the altercation. German officer Friedrich Muller is reminded of his own daughter left in Germany. He and Emilie share a love of horses and, with Emilie's mother, they take care of the horses Joey and Topthorn, which are being kept to pull an ambulance for wounded soldiers.
When a shell kills most of his comrades, Friedrich switches his coat and identity with an enlisted medic, hoping to survive to return home. His subterfuge is discovered but Friedrich enables Emilie and her mother to escape. When the Germans force the two fine horses to work as draft horses, Joey inspires Topthorn to pull in order to survive. Once enemies, the two horses become friends, but Topthorn dies from exhaustion.
As Friedrich mourns the horse, a tank attack hits his group, killing him and causing Joey to flee in escape. He is caught in barbed wire in No Man's Land between the enemy lines. The Germans and British each send out a man under a white flag to aid the horse. Winning a coin toss, the British take the injured Joey back to camp.
Albert and David's infantry division encounter Emilie, who is alone and traumatized; they take her to British headquarters. On the way, Albert sees a dead horse with Billy's knife in him. Believing that the horse is Joey, Albert is broken. Recognizing Joey's name, Emilie tries to talk to Albert, but David is shot and killed, and Albert temporarily blinded by tear gas. Emilie does not have the chance to tell him about his horse.
Behind the lines, in a British encampment, Albert tells his story to a nurse just as the damaged Joey is brought to the camp by soldiers. The soldiers prepare to kill the injured horse, but Albert whistles and Joey responds to him. Learning the full story, the soldiers agree to let Albert care for Joey during their joint convalescence. The horse and farmboy return home safe to Devon at the end of the war.
Productions
National Theatre (2007–2009)
The show premiered on 17 October 2007 in the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre on the South Bank, London, on a run that ended on 14 February 2008. It returned for a second run on 10 September 2008, and closed on 18 March 2009."War Horse" . Retrieved 20 January 2010.
West End (2009–2016) War Horse transferred to the West End's Gillian Lynne Theatre, beginning preview performances on 28 March 2009, prior to an official opening of 3 April."Lincoln Center's New Season Is 'Women on the Verge', 'A Free Man of Color' and 'War Horse'". Playbill. 10 February 2010. The original cast featured Kit Harington as Albert, who reprised his South Bank performance.Staff writer (2 July 2009). "Theatre Interview with Kit Harington – The 22-Year-Old Stars in War Horse at the New London Theatre" . thelondonpaper. Accessed 20 January 2010."PHOTO CALL: Puppet-Heavy 'War Horse' Rides in London" playbill.comDatabase (undated). "Kit Harington" . London Theatre Database. Accessed 20 January 2010. The production includes an original score composed by Adrian Sutton.
The production met with critical acclaim for its powerful use of life-size horse puppets designed by the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa, winning an Olivier Award, Evening Standard Theatre Award and Critics' Circle Theatre Award.The National Theatre's War Horse: Facts And Figures, quoted 17 August 2015 On 12 October 2009 the performance was seen by HM Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, marking their first private theatre visit in four years."The Queen’s secret trip to theatre stuns audience", This Is London (UK)
War Horse has been popular with audiences, playing to 97% capacity in 2010, subsequently breaking the record for the highest weekly gross for a play in the West End. In December 2010, War Horse was dubbed "the theatrical event of the decade" by The Times. In 2011 it welcomed its millionth audience member.Shenton, Mark. "Nicola Stephenson and Patrick Robinson Join Cast of West End's War Horse", playbill.com, 1 March 2011.
War Horse was scheduled to close on 12 March 2016. By the time it closed, the play had played more than 3,000 performances.
Broadway (2011–2013) As a co-production of the National Theatre and Lincoln Center Theater, War Horse began preview performances at Broadway's Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York City on 15 March 2011, and opened on officially 14 April.BBC: "War Horse play gets Broadway run" bbc.co.uk, BBC. The British creative team are joined by an all-American cast.Lincoln Center Theater, "War Horse"; retrieved 10 March 2011. Seth Numrich starred as Albert, Matt Doyle as Billy and Stephen Plunkett as Lieutenant Nicholls. The production earned a strong critical reception and ticket sales," War Horse to Gallop on Indefinitely at Lincoln Center", The New York Times, 15 April 2011 receiving five Tony Awards at the 2011 ceremony, including Best Play.
War Horse closed on 6 January 2013, after 718 performances and 33 previews."International Hit War Horse Ends Broadway Run Jan. 6; Toronto Production Also Closes" Playbill, 6 January 2013
Toronto, Canada (2012–2013) The show opened a separate Canadian production in Toronto, Ontario, on 28 February 2012 at Mirvish Productions' Princess of Wales Theatre, following previews from 10 February. Alex Furber starred as Albert. The production closed on 6 January 2013.
US national tour (2012–2014) The show's first national tour of the United States previewed at Boise State University's Morrison Center in Boise, Idaho, before launching at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California, from 14 June 2012 on a run through 29 July. It was scheduled for an additional 29 cities across the country. The role of Albert was played by Andrew Veenstra. This touring production played its final performance 24 August at Tokyo's Tokyu Theatre Orb, where the play had made its Asian premiere. Over 1.2 million audience members saw the first national tour of War Horse.
Australian Tour (2012–2013) and (2020) The Australian premiere production began previews on 23 December 2012, prior to a 31 December opening night at the Arts Centre Melbourne. It played until 10 March 2013, ahead of dates in Sydney and Brisbane. An Auckland engagement was planned, but was cancelled due to low ticket sales. The role of Albert was played by Cody Fern.Cody Fern Ready For The Ride Of His Life In War Horse Herald Sun
The show also toured again in 2020, in Melbourne's Regent Theatre from 10 January to 8 February 2020, and in Sydney's Lyric Theatre from 15 February to 15 March 2020, and was due to play Perth's Crown Theatre from 24 March to 12 April 2020, but was cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic.
First UK National Tour (2013–2014) War Horse embarked on a UK Tour starting Autumn 2013. The tour played at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth (27 September to 12 October); the Birmingham Hippodrome (17 October to 9 November); the Lowry at Salford Quays (20 November – 18 January 2014); the Edinburgh Festival Theatre (22 January-15 February); the Southampton Mayflower (19 February-15 March); the Dublin Bord Gáis Energy Theatre (26 March – 26 April); the Sunderland Empire Theatre (30 April – 17 May); and finished in Cardiff at the Wales Millennium Centre (18 June – 19 July).
Berlin, Germany (2013–2014) The first non-English-language production, entitled Gefährten (which loosely translates to Comrades, not coincidentally the same name given to the German release of Steven Spielberg's film), launched in Berlin, Germany, on 20 October 2013 at the Stage Theater des Westens. Marking the centenary of the first world war, War Horse is the first play about the war to be put on in Germany since that war began. It was produced in the same theatre attended by the Kaiser and Hitler. Someone called the play "the greatest anthem to peace" ever seen on the stage. "An English play translated into German, it has a German cast, singing English folksongs in German...I was there on the first night in Berlin. It was a night to remember. A night I will never forget." --Michael Morpurgo
Netherlands (2014–2015) The Dutch premiere of War Horse opened at Amsterdam's Theatre Carré on 30 May 2014, and ran through to 28 September 2014. After Amsterdam, War Horse toured to five further venues in Rotterdam, Breda, Groningen, Apeldoorn and Heerlen.
South Africa (2014–2015) The South African premiere of War Horse (billed in some media as a 'homecoming') opened at the Teatro at Montecasino in Johannesburg on 22 October 2014, and played through to 30 November 2014. The South African tour concluded with a transfer to Cape Town's Artscape Opera House on 12 December, where it ran until 4 January 2015.
China (2015–16) A Chinese adaptation of War Horse, entitled 战马, directed by Alex Sims and Li Dong, and fully translated into Mandarin, premiered at Beijing's National Theatre Company of China on 4 September 2015, and ran until 31 October. After the Beijing stop, the play toured to theatres in Shanghai (15 November 2015 – 17 January 2016), Guangzhou (8 March – 3 May 2016), as well as stops in Heilongjiang and Tianjin. Following the success of the first Chinese tour, the second tour began in Beijing in August 2016.
Further UK tours and London runs