War Horse

This was amazing. I cannot remember seeing anything like it. Like the movie, this play was based on a book about a horse, born in Devon in 1912, reared by a farm boy, is sold to the army, goes to war, is involved in war. The horses are life-size puppets. There are 2 main horses – Joey and Topthorn. Each is operated by 3 puppeteers, 2 underneath - 1 operating front legs and 1 operating hind legs both supporting a frame with a skin over it and sometimes ridden by an actor. The 3rd puppeteer operates the neck and head and makes most of the horse-like movements At first I was a little aware of the puppeteers, but very quickly I just watched the horse. The ears twitched, the body moved, he quivered – all sorts of lifelife movements. I was sitting in the third row, very close to the stage. I felt quite involved. The play showed how futile horses were against barbed wire and tanks. I was sitting next to a couple from Hobart. She was clasping her hands when Joey was leading a charge into enemy guns, starting at gun shots, etc like me.
The live actors were god too.