WAR HORSE at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre

(Seen 4/20/11)

Without doubt, the best new play of the season is WAR HORSE. It first captures its audience visually, with its stark and imposing panorama. Then it encaptures their emotions, resulting in a total theatrical experience for theatre-goers of all ages.

It's basically a children's fairy tale. A young boy in a dysfunctional British farm family is given a young colt to train for farm work in the days before World War I, and establishes a unique mutual bond with the animal. When the Army comes looking for horses to buy for the battles in Europe, his drunken father sells the horse. It is heart-rending, without being maudlin, as we follow the boy's army enlistment so he can go search the battlefields for his lost horse.

The amazing accomplishment of this very cohesive ensemble piece is that the horse -- all the horses -- are life-size puppets, each maneuvered by an on-stage team of puppeteers. And yet we accept this device as though we are seeing a living, snorting horse, reacting to all the wonders and horrors of life and of war. The sense of realism is magically not lost, despite the very apparent use of puppets.

First, we must credit Nick Stafford for his simple and sympathetic adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's novel; then, Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, for their directorial imagination and acumen in creating a vast vista, while still keeping the action on a very personal level.

And importantly, the Handspring Puppet Company, whose Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones have designed, created, and directed those shabby puppets into living, full-size horses, with movements and emotiuons that connect with the actors and the audience.

Truly a most worthy theatrical endeavor, carried out by an ensemble cast and a large team of theatre artists.