3 minute read
The Main Event - War Horse
The Main Event - War Horse
THE PITY OF WAR
BY GABI MILLS
There’s a moment in every performance of War Horse when, says puppetry director Gareth Aled, the audience fully believes that the lifesized horse puppets on stage are real. “Early on, out of the darkness you see a light that rises, and you see Joey as a foal, taking his first few steps,” says Gareth.
“The audience is immediately captivated from that moment on.” Gareth knows what he’s talking about. He performed on stage with the National Theatre of Great Britain, controlling Joey the foal and Topthorn the adult horse for two years until 2015 before returning as puppet director. Over eight million people have seen the play, in 97 cities and 11 countries, and it has won more than 25 international awards including the Tony for Best Play on Broadway.
Based on the beloved book by Michael Morpurgo, it’s a remarkable story of courage, loyalty and friendship, and tells the story of a young boy called Albert and his horse Joey, set against the backdrop of the First World War. This powerfully moving and imaginative drama is a show of phenomenal inventiveness, filled with stirring music and songs, featuring ground-breaking puppetry work by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company, which brings breathing, galloping horses to life on stage.
At the outbreak of World War One, Joey, young Albert’s beloved horse, is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France. He’s soon caught up in enemy fire, and fate takes him on an extraordinary journey, serving on both sides before finding himself alone in no man’s land. Albert, who remained on his parents’ Devon farm, cannot forget Joey. Though still not old enough to enlist he embarks on a treacherous mission to find him and bring him home.
Three actors bring each horse to life on stage, an astonishing feat of magic in plain view.
“The audience is drawn to the puppets at all times so it takes a very particular type of person to operate them effectively.”
As the head of Joey, Gareth admits that before taking on the role, he had ‘never picked up a puppet before.’ However, by the end of his role, he had learned to listen and trust at every level his co-puppeteers on stage. “Puppeteering requires more trust than any other role, as well as a generosity of spirit and lack of ego as all three actors work in concert together,” he says.
The three puppeteers control the head, heart and hind of each horse puppet, each section revealing incredible levels of emotion and ‘life’. “The head suggests the emotional responses - a horse’s ear is very expressive and is key to how they work, whereas the heart section will curl their hooves, ankles and knee joints as well as making them ‘breathe’.”
The hind section is responsible for the horse’s gait, says Gareth, as well as the swishing of the tail. The actors aren’t able to talk to each other in each performance so must have a high level of intuition and instinct to bring each horse to life.
The friendship between Albert and Joey is extremely moving and changes throughout the passing of time, another sleight of hand which is theatrically depicted brilliantly. There’s music and narration which adds depth and colour to this play in unexpected ways. The War Horse world extends too beyond the stage; part of Gareth’s role is to tell the War Horse story to school children too.
“I love sharing and engaging with school children and introducing them to theatre in a way they may never have experienced before,” he says.
War Horse will be one of Perth’s must-see shows - expect to be moved beyond measure.
“It’s greater than the sum of its parts,” says Gareth. “I have vivid memories of seeing it for the first time and I’m still captivated thousands of performances later.”
War Horse, Crown Theatre, Perth from March 24. Visit warhorseonstage.com.au
