War Horse the book spawned War Horse the stage play, which spawned War Horse the film. Apparently, the urge to make the film came over Steven Spielberg when he was reduced to tears while watching this stage production in London
The New London's circular stage is put to good use and every seat in the house is a good one as they almost surround the stage
The tale follows the fortunes of Joey, the eponymous war horse who is taken by the British army to fight in the First World War and the journey made by his young owner Albert, who enlists in order to try to find him among the horrors of the battlefields.
The play highlights the naive altruism of the patriotic young men of the time, who lie about their age in order to fight for queen and country and some of the confusion and indiscriminate brutality of war itself, perhaps best painted in the scenes of gas used in the trenches and in the execution of 2 young German conscripts for desertion
However, this play doesn't play on simple jingoistic sentiments but paints both sets of soldiers on the ground in a sympathetic light and in a echo of the famous football match played in no man's land on the Christmas Day truce between the 2 warring sides in WW1, the cooperation showed by an English and a German soldier in freeing the stricken Joey who is caught in the barbed wire in no man's land reminded us of the humanity capable in both sides
WW1 has also been chosen as the era when horse cavalry was in its final hurrah as a true military weapon, never more clearly shown than when Joey is startled by a huge German tank and panics, taking flight and eventually becoming entangled in barbed wire in no man's land
It's a play which takes us through a whole gamut of emotions and explores themes surrounding war, love (though not the romantic kind), bravery and even a little humour through an angry squawking goose. Like Spielberg, it may be a good idea to bring a few tissues
I've deliberately left out the most unique part of this show until now - the animal puppetry. The animals are portrayed by life size models with human operators inside and beside them but it's a great tribute to them, the wonderfully organic movements they achieve in operating the models and how absorbing the story and drama is that you quickly forget the human operators and just see the animals
I'm sure a common question will be which is better, the play or the film. I think I would have to say that the play left a bigger impression on me but perhaps that's because I saw it before the film. Both are different experiences and I'd still recommend that you catch both if you get the chance read more