War Horse - The view from onstage

Fellow blogger Kevin From Canada asked if I would write a post about the production I am currently appearing in, War Horse. He was intrigued to know what it is like to be a part of such a successful show. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, a little background first. War Horse is a children's novel by Michael Morpurgo, former children's Laureate. Written from the point of view of the horse, Joey, it tells the story of how he becomes part of the cavalry in the First World War and the lengths to which the boy who helped to raise him will go to to be reunited with him. The National Theatre in conjunction with Handspring Puppet Company adapted the book into a play which was successful enough to be revived the following Christmas and then transfer into the West End where it continues to run at the New London Theatre. The show has become famous because of its extraordinary puppets, most notably the life-size horses which are controlled by three actors. I'll tell you first a little bit about the machinations behind the show and then what it's actually like to do each night.

As I mentioned, each horse puppet requires three actors to operate it, called the Head, Heart and Hind. The head operator is outside the horse, supporting the head and controlling its movement and that of the ears too. The Heart is inside the horse operating the front legs and creating the breathing of the animal with the rise and fall of the body which they are helping to support. Finally, the Hind, controls the back legs and movement of the tail, working together with the Heart to support the weight of anyone that happens to ride the horse (that's right, at the end of the day if someone's rides that horse they're sitting on the shoulders of two actors). With two horses in the show and the physical demands placed on the actors who make them live there are actually four horse teams in the cast who rotate through the weeks of the run to help stave off injury. In theory that is. With the inevitable injuries that crop up and the days of holiday that have to be taken during the long run, horse teams inevitably end up getting a bit mixed up and having to swap in and out of various configurations. One of the wonders of the show is the way the horse teams work together to create a convincing experience for the audience. Part of this is also due to the latitude that exists for them within performance. This isn't choreography; with the same kind of intentions and actions as any other actor on stage they are acting and reacting to what they receive from others. For those of us working with them onstage it really can be as unpredictable as breaking that old maxim and working with animals.

The horses are like a microcosm of the show as a whole as holiday and illness mean that at any one time there will be at least two or three members of the cast off. Before each show begins the cast will assemble and a list of 'knock-ons' will be read out in which parts and the minutiae of the show will be allocated. Now, I've said parts there, but I don't want you to think that this is some kind of theatre collective where we all know everything and just swap them around. Every part has a first and second cover so that no matter what the disaster, the show will go on (just last week we had three people away on holiday and two off sick for one show and yet we managed to make it all happen), but for those little elements of movement work or prop and scenery moving performed by the cast there is definitely an all hands to the pump kind of feel. The constant changes in this vein mean that there are hardly ever two shows that are the same, which of course helps to keep it interesting, and to keep the cast focused of course.

Genuine West End feet during the pre-show meeting.

Much is made of the word 'ensemble' with some shows but I can proudly say that in no other show I've worked on has the word been so appropriately used. A cast of 31 actors helps to make that show happen each night, everyone an absolutely integral part of the story, no big names amongst the cast and everyone, and I mean absolutely everyone, playing multiple roles and getting their hands dirty (I mean this literally as we have to slather ourselves in 'mud' for those battle scenes and I still haven't managed to find a really effective way of getting rid of it from all the nooks and crannies). I mention this only because a quick look at a few other shows in the West End might lead you to believe that the only chance of commercial success is to place a few well-known TV faces in the cast, they don't even have to be actors necessarily, and watch the bookings come in. We may have strength in numbers but there is something very encouraging about the extended runs, the full houses, and the rapturous reception which accompanies a show which focuses on the story and the creativity required to tell it rather than any celebrity.

So what's it like to be in a 5-star West End smash-hit (he asked himself smugly)? There are several things that are remarkable. A show that is selling well is obviously a joy to be in. Performing in front of a half-empty theatre can be demoralising, not to mention much harder work. The New London holds around 1100 people and to see that theatre full, night after night, is something I'm trying not to take for granted. The response from an audience that size to a show that is as emotional as ours can be quite overwhelming. To see members of the audience standing at the end is not a very English thing and yet we had a week of shows last week when people stood every night, tears coursing down faces, smiles stretching from ear to ear. The tears. With a stage that bulges out into the audience so much and lighting that illuminates the first seven or eight rows I can see perfectly well the reactions of people to the play's final few scenes. It's quite hard to keep focus actually when you can see people grabbing onto partners arms or hiding behind tear-stained hankies. I've even seen people start crying in the plays opening moments leading me to worry about the risk of dehydration by the end of the play's two-and-a-half hour running time.

You may well have heard about the Queen's recent visit to the show. To have an unofficial visit like that was extraordinary. We knew on the day that she would be coming but the audience did not of course and it wasn't until the end of the first half that many of them twigged who exactly it was sitting in row K next to someone who looked remarkably like Prince Philip. I happened to be playing Captain Stewart that night which meant that I finished the first half mounted on horseback, sword in hand, charging right at her. Now that doesn't happen every day. Her daughter Princess Anne has already been to see the show and we have since been visited by Prince William so if The Prince Of Wales is reading, we just need you for a Royal Flush. This has helped to increase interest in the show even further of course and that is why the run has recently been extended into 2011. I mentioned the lack of celebrities on stage; the fact is that the celebrities tend to be in the audience and we have a list on the wall of some of the famous faces to have been spotted. A list like that often has some comedy amendments made to it, ridiculously famous people who haven't really seen the show, but recently it's been difficult to know for sure which is which. Just last week we were visited by Morgan Freeman no less and last night we had a visit which turned one of the long standing jokes amongst actors all over the country into reality. Many times on a show it has been joked amongst a cast that 'Spielberg is in tonight.' Well, last night he was. I know. Ridiculous. And do you want to know the punchline? I'm away on holiday this week. My moment with Spielberg will have to wait (He's here as part of preparations for his film version of War Horse).

So, a show that keeps packing audiences in, celebrities and all, for the foreseeable future, a show that keeps everyone honest and doing something a little different every night, a show that manages to make audiences laugh, cry, gasp and applaud; that's the kind of show you always dream being a part of, so I'm a very lucky chap, no doubt about it, and very pleased to be remaining with the company as the show extends its run. I hope this has given you an idea of what it's like to be a part of it but please feel free to ask any questions you want in the comment section below. I'm off now to find out Morgan Freeman's number. He needs to explain to Spielberg what, or rather who, was missing from the show last night.

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'Only remembered for what we have done'

War Horse
by Michael Morpurgo

The National Theatre have made something of a name for themselves in adapting books for children for the stage. His Dark Materials, Coram Boy and War Horse have all enjoyed successful runs and this Christmas Terry Pratchett's Nation will surely pack them in again. One of the keys to that success has been to pick material that allows them to take children on a real journey, one often fraught with very real danger, leaving them terrified at the interval and hopefully exhausted and chattering away like maniacs at the end. Morpurgo's novel was a brilliant choice taking us from the rural idyll of Devon, all the way across the channel to the blood-soaked fields of France during the Great War.

The inspired choice is to narrate the book from the point of view of the horse Joey. An animal, with its lack of understanding about humans and their thoughts, motivations and relationships, is a great viewpoint from which to witness the love of a boy for his horse, the brutal horrors of mechanised warfare, and the lengths to which love can carry you. Albert Narracott takes charge of young Joey after his father buys him at auction. 'A yearling colt and a young lad have more in common than awkward gawkishness' and their close bond is forged immediately, Albert working hard to train him to plough, a job the horse isn't built for by any stretch. It isn't long afterwards that Albert's father sells Joey to the army, the ultimatum of 1914 having arrived all of a sudden and the life of the village and the Narracott family in particular about to be turned upside down.

The optimism of troops heading for the continent is difficult for us to grasp now with out historical perspective. For many of those who signed up before conscription the army offered a chance to travel to those who may not previously have left their own county before. The atmosphere of that journey across the channel is witnessed by the horses.

There was all about us on the ship an air of great exuberance and expectancy. The soldiers were buoyant with optimism, as if they were embarking on some great military picnic; it seemed none of us had a care in the world. As they tended us in our stalls the troopers joked and laughed together as I had never heard them before.

That atmosphere soon changes however and it is the horses who provide a great example of the changing nature of warfare. The idea of a cavalry charge bringing an opposing army to its knees is ridiculously out-moded in the face of barbed wire and machine guns. I don't want to say too much more about the plot, but the slow progress and protracted nature of the fighting allows us to see the war from both sides of the trenches. Joey of course has no awareness of British or German, good or bad, he simply sees other humans in terms of their status within the group. His lack of emotional involvement gives Morpurgo the opportunity to present the human characters and let us watch them, in particular seeing how their behaviour is altered by the arrival of this horse and their projections onto it. One character describes why a horse might be deserving of so much attention during such an extreme time.

Can you not see that he's something special? This isn't just any old horse. There's a nobility in his eye, a regal serenity about him. Does he not personify all that men try to be and never can be? I tell you, my friend, there's divinity in a horse, and specially in a horse like this. God got it right the day he created them.

As you may already know I am joining the company of the National's production of War Horse, in fact the first performance with the new cast is this evening. For that reason it may be a little quiet here whilst things settle down. I shall try to keep on top of things but my wife also gave birth to our second child the other day so I promise nothing, except maybe a few more spelling mistakes.

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