By Eve Speer
Broadway Across America brings the good people of Salt Lake City, the National Theatre of Great Britain’s production of War Horse, in association with Handspring Puppet Company. Based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford, and directed by Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr. That’s a mouthful of people to credit! Just wanted to make sure I covered my bases before I launched into this review.
I’m not prepared to write a review on this show. I must apologize for this. I found out Monday at midnight that I was going to see it, and last night at midnight that I was to write a review of it. Perhaps that’s for the best. Even if I had the time, I wouldn’t be able to give this play its due. From the first paragraph of my meager review, you can get a sense of the ensemble of talents and sponsors required to bring together this work of art. And it is a work of art. After opening at The National in London in 2007, the play has seen 97% full houses since then. Even Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip saw the show.
War Horse is only in Utah this week. Unless you plan to go to New York or London this year, I encourage you to beg, steal, and borrow in order to see this show. The plot is somewhat familiar after the movie came out a couple years ago. It’s the story of a young foal named Joey, sold to a family in Devon, England. The foal is wild and difficult to train, but Albert is a patient boy. He learns to communicate with Joey and the two of them become good friends. World War I breaks out and Albert’s father sells Joey to fight in the Cavalry. So Joey goes to war and meets Topthorn, a big bad black horse who quickly asserts himself as the alpha animal. Joey and Topthorn meet some nice people and have a grand adventure in a war where they’re required to run headlong into machine guns and barbed wire while soldiers are choking on mustard gas. Just as a reminder, Joey and Tophorn are HORSES.
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The Handspring Puppet Company, based out of South Africa, under the direction of Toby Sedgwick, using three different actors per horse, bring these horses to life. This is not a play about people where horses are props. This is a play starring a horse. In fact, Joey and Topthorn take the final bow. The music is sparing and familiar. The words of the songs are narrative, and the melodies can be found in any hymn book. The set is magically simple. A wooden door. People holding posts that represent a fence. There is a torn scroll that runs along the center of the stage. Upon this scroll, drawings of Devon, machine guns, rolling valleys, and ocean waves illuminate and inform the story.
Every actor contributes to the story.
If the play were to have any flaws, it would be that it’s a touch didactic. But perhaps I’m confusing didactic with dedicated to the message. The storytellers are dedicated to the message that if a boy and a horse can communicate, then so can the English and the German, the father and the son, conquered and the conqueror. The story illustrates how war becomes terror when we are unable to communicate. Old world fighting styles stand against new world technologies. We hear the stories of how many men died on the fields of Europe, but something about seeing the great innocent horses fall to the weapons made me weep for the loss of life.
Of course, the fact that we can learn to communicate despite our borders and our different languages gives us hope that we might avoid another great war. And so the play leaves us hopeful. We learn that our similarities are greater than our differences and we leave the theatre ready to listen. The Capitol Theatre is always good for a show. Located at 50 West 200 South in downtown Salt Lake City. Call 801-355-2787 for tickets or visit www.arttix.org. The show runs April 22-27.
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