Review of warhorse by Paul Contento In august 2007 I watched the play War Horse, adapted for the stage

by playw right Nick Stafford from Michael Morpurgo's novel. It was performed in the Natio nal theatre in London. The performance was complimented by its venue. The thrust stage allowed eac h member of the audience to take a unique perspective. The mood of the play chan ges with location and tension builds in the plot. The important points of the st ory are shown by pressure mounting in the scene due to the behavior of the chara cters in it. Through their responses such as a raised voice, or by the use of mo vement, mime and gesture, the audience can see an effective climax/anticlimax wi thin a scene. One key scene was when Joey was forced to pull the plough over a d istance. The audience was shown the importance and relevance of Joey's struggle because of the aggressive voices of characters as they showed support or heckled . The movements and postures were also very essential in raising the tension and illustrating the scene as a significant moment in the play. Many on stage were almost bent double as they called to the horse. The horse puppet itself was made to express an immense strain and effort. The horse was made to twitch and shake as it endeavored to haul the plough, and the fantastic puppetry of Joey made hi m seem lifelike which furthered the audience s relationship with him. Actors control ling the puppets had to concentrate on their use of characterization in order to keep the play naturalistic and flowing. By mimicking the noises of the animals they acted as, they made use of the medium voice and in taking on the temperamen t of Joey; the use of the medium movement, mime gesture came through as well. As a mute character, Joey's emotions had to come from his reactions. Rather than m aking them obvious, the actors controlling him had to use subtle techniques to m ake us warm to Joey. Although the plough-pulling scene is important because of i ts consequences in the war, it contrasts greatly with the wartime setting. As op pose to a plough, to harvest crops, Joey is made to pull a battery turret in ord er to kill soldiers and save himself and Topthorn. The wholesome, optimistic and generally good natured feel of the earlier scenes switches with the harsh and d ark attitude of wartime, an effective use of contrast as the audience was shown suffering and pain compared with the relative peace and tranquility of the Exete r countryside. I was confused when I first saw the backdrop of the stage; it was what look ed like a torn strip of paper. Later, the audience is shown its relevance as Alb ert tears a sketch out from Major Nicholls drawing pad and leaves to find Joey. The ripped paper across the cyclorama then becomes symbolic of the entire play, loc ation shown through the animated drawings, and giving it relevance. By its use, we are given more to develop our opinion of Major Nicholls. Other uses of symbol ism are clear within the play, especially as many of them contrast between calm Exeter and the morbid wartime scenes. In Exeter, sparrows circled the stage and flew about the audience, lending a relaxed, friendly atmosphere to the setting w hereas the crow puppets suggested a darker tone because of their connection with death and despair. The mood of the performance was also shown through sound, specifically the live music. A character came on stage at points in the play to sing and set the mood and to express location in the music. It held a slow rhythm and traditional of a countryside ballad as the story was told to the audience. The songs accomp anied the dialogue in some cases and effectively became the narrative. This was shown at the very start of the play at the auction when Ted buys Joey. As the ch aracters set the scene physically, the singer circled the stage, singing slow rh ythmic tunes which made the performance appear more colloquial and friendly, whi ch suited the context well. Later on, more live music was sung. Although the sce nes contrast quite dramatically in context. The songs sung remained slow and pea ceful which compared both locations and showed a relationship between the two. The actor playing Albert had to use an array of mediums, because of the wid e range of situations he was in and the multitude of emotions he had to express in the play. From being so carefree and joyous when being with Joey, to the bitt er determination he had in war, Albert was shown most obviously in his spoken la

nguage and voice as he could share his emotion with others on stage and to the a udience. The audience could form a relationship with the character because of th e honesty he showed in his voice and his worry over Joey in several scenes could be heard from his melancholy tone, its slow pace and low volume. By keeping qui et and having a slow pace to his voice, the actor showed Albert's loss of will, making him seem tired and fatigued. As he talked about Joey we were shown he was purposely drifting off and thinking of home, as a comfort or safe haven from th e horrors around him. Although we see Albert develop through the play, by keepin g his strong Devon accent in the performance, I feel that Albert was kept a stro ng central character. By remaining the same in ways unique to him, the audience felt more at ease to support him and had a much closer relationship with him all the way through. The use of lighting in certain parts was very effective as it highlighted t he importance of a character or the scene in its entirety. In the market scene, where they made use of freeze frame, the flood lighting made the scene more memo rable because although widespread, the hard edge and brightness focused the audi ence on the image as much as a spotlight would on a single character. Strobe lig hting was used when Nicholls and Joey rode in to battle. It gave the effect of d isorganization and confusion which contributed to the mood when Nicholls is shot and killed. The explosive noises and sounds of guns added to the overall effect of chaos and when mixed with the strobe lighting made the form more realistic. By using strobe lighting, the scene became more memorable for the audience which was essential as the rest of the play was affected by his death. A gunshot rang out as Nicholls was shot and the scene reached its climax, the pace, rhythm and tempo of everything onstage slowed. The strobes became less rapid and faded alo ng with the sound of the battle so as to concentrate on the magnitude of Nicholl s falling off of Joey, dead. Mostly, the pacing of the play was kept naturalistic and flowing and scenes were shown in a chronological order. Performing in a chronological order made th e play much more natural relaxed and easier to follow, as the audience can see t he story develop. Although the battle up till then was shown in this way, the fo rm changed as he fell. Nicholls was lifted off of Joey and carried back, as if p ushed by the force of the bullet. This was done in slow motion and by using the technique, changed the form into a more abstract and detached perspective. Becau se of the changes in form, pace, rhythm, and tempo, the scene had more of an imp act on the audience. The set used in the starting scene was minimalist and creative, some charac ters held long poles that acted as props and pieces of scenery. By holding them vertically, they became a fence that other actors leant against. Although very s implistic, it was effective in setting the scene. During the war, they made use of set to illustrate not only the location, but the mood of the characters. Ruin s of French buildings added to the atmosphere as being weary. They were painted grey, making the feeling of the wartime scenes dark and dreary. Costume was used as well as set to show the depression in scenes. Muller, a German soldier who had looked after Joey, wore an old faded trench coat taken f rom a dead companion which sent a graphic impression of the unforgiving times he was in. From their attire, the audience is given more information about the cha racter, such as their location or importance. The market scene showed a captain in his uniform surrounded by local villagers; his clothing was different from th e others and made him more dominant. Characters also expressed their importance and relationships with one anoth er through their use of levels. In the scene where Ted attempts to take Joey, th e audience could see how Joey's height frightened Ted, and when he was much youn ger, we could see Joey's fear of Ted for the same reason which expressed the con fused and hostile relationship they had. When Joey was sold as a foal, the aucti oneer stood above the others to send across his power over what happened within the scene to the audience and the other characters. Through the use of levels, o ur attention was focused on certain characters, like when Nicholls rode to battl e on Joey, other soldiers in his squadron were lower down, which drew the attent ion of the audience on to him and highlighted that this scene was a pivotal mome

nt. All in all I have to say that the production of war horse is a well written and expertly produced piece of theatre. Whether it be through lighting, differe nt mediums or levels, costume or acting techniques, the production keeps a consi stent level of atmosphere and kept me entertained from start to finish. Although it has been a long time since I have seen it, I remember every detail as though it were yesterday.