War Horse is a play based on the book of the same name by writer Michael Morpurgo, adapted for stage by Nick Stafford. Originally Morpurgo thought "they must be mad" to try to make a play from his best-selling 1982 novel; nonetheless , the play was a  success. The play's West End and Broadway productions are directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris; it features life-size horse puppets by the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa, with "horse choreography" by Toby Sedgwick. Synopsis A captured foal is brought to Devon in the United Kingdom to be auctioned . Hoping to give it to his son Ned, Arthur Narracott bids on the foal; instead, his brother Ted competes with him and bids 30 guineas—an exorbitant amount for the poor farmer, winning the horse. The local drunkard, Ted is considered to be a coward, for refusing to have fought together with his brother in the earlier Boer War in South Africa. At the auction, Ted used money reserved to pay his farm mortgage. Ted's wife Rose fears they will lose their farm. Their son Albert promises to raise the foal and train him for sale. The boy names the foal Joey, and forms a strong bond with him during training. As Friedrich mourns the horse, a tank attack hits his group, killing him and driving Joey to run . He is caught in barbed wire in No Man's Land between the enemy lines. The Germans and British each send out a man under a white flag to aid the horse. Winning a coin toss, the British take the injured Joey back to camp. Albert and David's infantry division encounter Emilie, who is alone and traumatized; they take her to British headquarters. On the way, Albert sees a dead horse with Ned's knife in him. Believing that the horse is Joey, Albert is broken. Recognizing Joey's name, Emilie tries to talk to Albert, but David is shot and killed, and Albert temporarily-blinded by tear gas. Emilie does not have the chance to tell him about his horse. National Theatre (2007–2009) The maquette for Joey from the National Theatre production. The puppets were made by the Handspring Puppet CompanyAfrica children . This scale model was a gift to Michael Morpurgo The show premiered on 17 October 2007 in the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre on the South Bank, London, on a run that ended on 14 February 2008. It returned for a second run on 10 September 2008, and closed on 18 March 2009."War Horse". Retrieved 20 January 2010. Broadway (2011–2013) As a co-production of the National Theatre and Lincoln Center, War Horse began preview performances at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York City on 15 March 2011, and opened on Broadway 14 April.BBC: "War Horse play gets Broadway run" bbc.co.uk, BBC. The British creative team are joined by an all-American cast.Lincoln Center Theater, "War Horse"; retrieved 10 March 2011. Seth Numrich originated the leading role of Albert. His Private Romeo costar, Matt Doyle, played Billy. Stephen Plunkett played Lieutenant Nicholls. The production was only scheduled to have a limited run, closing on 26 June 2011, but soon became open-ended after strong critical reception and ticket sales." 'War Horse' To Gallop On Indefinitely at Lincoln Center" New York Times, 15 April 2011 The production received five Tony Awards at the 2011 ceremony, including Best Play. US national tour (2012-2014) The show's first national tour of the United States previewed at the State University's Morrison Center in Boise, Idaho, before launching at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California, from 14 June 2012 on a run through 29 July. It was scheduled for an additional 29 cities across the country. The role of Albert was played by Andrew Veenstra. This touring production played its final performance 24 August at Tokyo's Tokyu Theatre Orb, which also marked the Asian premiere of the play . Over 1.2 million audience members saw the first national tour of War Horse. First UK National Tour (2013–2014) War Horse embarked on a UK Tour starting Autumn 2013. The tour played at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth (27 September to 12 October) , the Birmingham Hippodrome (17 October to 9 November) , the Lowry at Salford Quays (20 November - 18 January 2014) , at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre (22 January-15 February) , at the Southampton Mayflower (19 February-15 March) , the Dublin Bord Gáis Energy Theatre (26 March - 26 April) , at the Sunderland Empire Theatre (30 April - 17 May) , and finished in Cardiff at the Wales Millennium Centre (18 June - 19 July).
War Horse is a play based on the book of the same name by writer Michael Morpurgo, adapted for stage by Nick Stafford. Originally Morpurgo thought "they must be mad" to try to make a play from his best-selling 1982 novel; but , the play was a great success. The play's West End and Broadway productions are directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris; it features life-size horse puppets by the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa, with "horse choreography" by Toby Sedgwick. Synopsis A foal is auctioned for sale in Devon, the United Kingdom . Hoping to give it to his son Ned, Arthur Narracott bids on the foal; instead, his brother Ted competes with him and bids 30 guineas—an exorbitant amount that Arthur can't meet - and wins the foal. Ted is the local drunkard and thought to be a coward, for refusing to have fought together with his brother in the earlier Boer War in South Africa. At the auction, Ted used money reserved to pay his farm mortgage. Ted's wife Rose fears they will lose their farm. Their son Albert promises to raise the foal and train him for sale. The boy names the foal Joey, and forms a strong bond with the horse during training. As Friedrich mourns the horse, a tank attack hits his group, killing him and causing Joey to flee in escape . He is caught in barbed wire in No Man's Land between the enemy lines. The Germans and British each send out a man under a white flag to aid the horse. Winning a coin toss, the British take the injured Joey back to camp. Albert and David's infantry division encounter Emilie, who is alone and traumatized; they take her to British headquarters. On the way, Albert sees a dead horse with Ned's knife in him. Believing that the horse is Joey, Albert is broken. Recognizing Joey's name, Emilie tries to talk to Albert, but David is shot and killed, and Albert temporarily blinded by tear gas. Emilie does not have the chance to tell him about his horse. National Theatre (2007–2009) The maquette for Joey from the National Theatre production. The puppets were made by the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa . This scale model was a gift to Michael Morpurgo The show premiered on 17 October 2007 in the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre on the South Bank, London, on a run that ended on 14 February 2008. It returned for a second run on 10 September 2008, and closed on 18 March 2009."War Horse". Retrieved 20 January 2010. Broadway (2011–2013) As a co-production of the National Theatre and Lincoln Center, War Horse began preview performances at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York City on 15 March 2011, and opened on Broadway 14 April.BBC: "War Horse play gets Broadway run" bbc.co.uk, BBC. The British creative team are joined by an all-American cast.Lincoln Center Theater, "War Horse"; retrieved 10 March 2011. Seth Numrich originated the leading role of Albert. His Private Romeo costar, Matt Doyle, played Billy. Stephen Plunkett played Lieutenant Nicholls. The production was scheduled to have a limited run, closing on 26 June 2011, but soon became open-ended after strong critical reception and ticket sales." 'War Horse' To Gallop On Indefinitely at Lincoln Center" New York Times, 15 April 2011 The production received five Tony Awards at the 2011 ceremony, including Best Play. US national tour (2012-2014) The show's first national tour of the United States previewed at Idaho State University's Morrison Center in Boise, Idaho, before launching at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California, from 14 June 2012 on a run through 29 July. It was scheduled for an additional 29 cities across the country. The role of Albert was played by Andrew Veenstra. This touring production played its final performance 24 August at Tokyo's Tokyu Theatre Orb, where the play had made its Asian premiere . Over 1.2 million audience members saw the first national tour of War Horse. First UK National Tour (2013–2014) War Horse embarked on a UK Tour starting Autumn 2013. The tour played at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth (27 September to 12 October) ; the Birmingham Hippodrome (17 October to 9 November) ; the Lowry at Salford Quays (20 November - 18 January 2014) ; the Edinburgh Festival Theatre (22 January-15 February) ; the Southampton Mayflower (19 February-15 March) ; the Dublin Bord Gáis Energy Theatre (26 March - 26 April) ; the Sunderland Empire Theatre (30 April - 17 May) ; and finished in Cardiff at the Wales Millennium Centre (18 June - 19 July).
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