War Horse Evaluation
War Horse Evaluation
On the 11th of March 2013 I went to see War Horse at the New London Theatre. War Horse is a novel adapted by Nick Stafford and written by Michael Morpurgo. The performance I saw was directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, it also involved the incredible Handspring Puppet Company who created all the animals. War Horse is set in Devon in 1914 and is about how a farmer, Ted Narracott who is played by Jamie Kenna buys a thoroughbred horse rather than a plough animal, but when his teenage son Albert played by Siôn Daniel Young trains the horse and calls him Joey, the two becoming inseparable. When his harvest fails, Ted has to sell Joey to the British cavalry and he is shipped to France where, after a disastrous offensive he is captured by the Germans and changes hands twice more before he is found, caught in the barbed wire and after 4 years he is freed. He is returned behind British lines where Albert, now a private, has been temporarily blinded by gas, but still recognizes his beloved Joey and the pair are finally reunited. As I was watching the play the main themes I noticed were love, tension, bravery and the human – animal bond.
The Handspring Puppet Company; Head-Nicholas Hart, heart- Andrew London and hind- Sam Wilmott
When I first entered the auditorium I saw that the stage was big and flown in above the stage was projection screen that looked like a tear from a book and every time there was a new scene, this tear would be used as a projection screen to explain to the audience the setting. This was very effective as it allowed the audience to understand which country each scene was set in and also enabled smooth transitions to take place.
Whilst watching the play I noticed how minimal the set was. There was only a few props on stage such as buckets on stage right and in Act Two the plough was used as the trench. A minimalistic set was effective because they travelled a lot and the play is set in so many locations, it’s good
On the 11th of March 2013 I went to see War Horse at the New London Theatre. War Horse is a novel adapted by Nick Stafford and written by Michael Morpurgo. The performance I saw was directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, it also involved the incredible Handspring Puppet Company who created all the animals. War Horse is set in Devon in 1914 and is about how a farmer, Ted Narracott who is played by Jamie Kenna buys a thoroughbred horse rather than a plough animal, but when his teenage son Albert played by Siôn Daniel Young trains the horse and calls him Joey, the two becoming inseparable. When his harvest fails, Ted has to sell Joey to the British cavalry and he is shipped to France where, after a disastrous offensive he is captured by the Germans and changes hands twice more before he is found, caught in the barbed wire and after 4 years he is freed. He is returned behind British lines where Albert, now a private, has been temporarily blinded by gas, but still recognizes his beloved Joey and the pair are finally reunited. As I was watching the play the main themes I noticed were love, tension, bravery and the human – animal bond.
The Handspring Puppet Company; Head-Nicholas Hart, heart- Andrew London and hind- Sam Wilmott
When I first entered the auditorium I saw that the stage was big and flown in above the stage was projection screen that looked like a tear from a book and every time there was a new scene, this tear would be used as a projection screen to explain to the audience the setting. This was very effective as it allowed the audience to understand which country each scene was set in and also enabled smooth transitions to take place.
Whilst watching the play I noticed how minimal the set was. There was only a few props on stage such as buckets on stage right and in Act Two the plough was used as the trench. A minimalistic set was effective because they travelled a lot and the play is set in so many locations, it’s good