War Horse

New Wimbledon Theatre

This show will grab your heart, and there is no way that the horse is a puppet. The perfect amount of intensity, comedy and emotive moments. You'll be grasping your seat in anticipation.

Bring your tissues, because you are in for an emotional rollercoaster. This show is outstanding, and the way the puppet of the horse Joey enters the stage and captures the audience is remarkable. You forget the puppeteers are there; the detail that goes into making the horse realistic is nothing like what you have seen before. You would do anything for that horse, audience members would gasp out of the blue, say 'no', and it's a reaction that naturally comes out, because the emotional connection is so strong. The story is set during the run-up to World War One and follows the Narracott family, who live on a farm. Ted Narracott, never passes up a bet, whatever the size of the loss. He brings Joey the horse home, and Albert, his son, forms an unbreakable bond with the spirited horse. He sees how special Joey is and teaches the horse to love. The war begins, and the family are torn apart, and Albert goes on a dangerous journey to put the pieces of his life back together. This show presents how war took away so many people, separated families and the hellish environment soldiers were living in. This show puts so much into perspective.

There are so many cast members who work together to bring Joey to life and each one of them deserves an abundance of respect and appreciation for their craft. The puppet is the star of the show, and the connection they all work together to form with the audience is astounding. Albert is played by Tom Sturgess and his character goes on a huge journey. How he displays friendship with his character's horse moves the audience to tears. The Narracott parents are played by Jo Castleton and Karl Haynes. The two have a great dynamic; they lean on each other, provide some comic relief, but also some strong emotive moments. Castleton as Rose displays a poignant moment at the end of Act Two as she breaks down in tears upon hearing Albert has run away to embark on his journey. This moment is climactic, but little do the audience know that this is just a taster of how intense Act Two will be. Some gorgeous performance skills were displayed, but the puppeteers are the stars of the show.

There's a white stripe that is between the black backdrop, there are many moments displayed on this stripe and mostly sketches. Whilst this is beautiful and brings the idea of the story coming to life from the pages of the book that the story originates from, the choice of this set choice isn't clear at the start. However, there is a significant moment in one of the scenes that makes you realise why this choice was made, when you see that moment you'll be extremely impressed with this creative choice. This show is a showcase of the amazing skill that goes into stage art, technology and set design. There are so many stunning moments and images that will bring you to your knees! What they do to show the soldiers going to battle on the horses is out of this world. The creative team are masters of their craft and they bring this show to life. It is a work of art and the images of war that it shows are moving, they make you reflect and remember those who fought many years ago, keeping the respect for what they did strong!

It should be essential for every theatre lover to watch this show. I'm grateful that back when I was at school, this was the first show I ever saw in London and now years later I'm here watching the show still as impressed as the first time. I was lucky that the first show I saw was this masterpiece. However, please can Joey the horse come out at stage door, because I want to pet that horse... it's now on my bucket list. If you can make it to Wimbledon to watch this, then make sure you do! If not catch the show at one of the other theatre, because this show is on tour! You don't want to sit on this one, it's pure theatre art and magic. You'll do anything for that horse.. at moments I wanted to spring out of my seat to help him, the story is so real.

Please can we have a sequel of the life of the goose please! Does he ever get in the house? Does the goose go to war?