| war_horse_prog_notes.docx |
Programme Notes for War Horse
The National Theatre’s acclaimed production War Horse takes audiences on a journey from the fields of rural Devon to the trenches of the first Word War in France. Based on the novel by Micheal Morpurgo, this powerful drama is filled with music and songs. The Handspring Puppet Company from South Africa brings breathing, galloping horses and other puppet creatures, to life on stage. The show premiered in the National Theatre in London in October 2007.This is the first time that War Horse has toured in Ireland, North and South.
If you would like to hear these Programme Notes read out before the show, please take your seat 10 minutes before the show begins. The Audio Describers for the show are Marie Abbott and Cara Smith.
The live Audio Description will take place at the 2.30 Matinee performance on Saturday February 8th.
Story and set
On a farm in rural Devon in 1912 , Ted Narracott bids to buy a young reddish coloured foal at a local livestock auction. The first part of the play shows how Ted’s son Albert rears and trains his beloved horse Joey. Two years later Joey has grown to become a life size horse, and at the start of World War One, Joey is sold to a British Army Cavalry battalion. The play tells the story of Albert and Joey before and during that bloody war. We also meet Topthorn, a sleek black thoroughbred horse owned by a senior army officer, Captain Stewart and both horses are shipped off together to the battlefields of France. Albert is determined to follow Joey and bring him home to Devon.
When the curtains open, the stage is dominated by a wide uneven banner of white paper, hung high up above the stage. It looks like the paper has been torn from an artist’s sketchbook. Throughout the play drawings, images and films are projected onto this white strip, showing scenes of the countryside, of rolling hills, trees, a farmhouse or other locations in the village and over in the battlefields in France.
The stage is often dimly lit ,with mist or low lighting creating an atmosphere of time and place. Props are simply carried on or off stage by the cast members, for example using narrow wooden slats to form fences for the auction market, or to form a gate. A solitary door within a wooden frame allows access from the farmyard in to a house. A member of the cast leads a single puppet farmyard goose flapping its wings on a wheeled wooden stick. Light metal poles are used to fly birds above a scene. Cast members also manipulate hand-held puppet crows on the battlefield. Music and singing plays an important role in the show. Songs involve a single musician and, at times, other members of the cast The lead singer, a woman, plays an accordion to accompany the songs. Many of these are folk tunes or songs from the early part of the twentieth century, creating an atmosphere of the period.
Cast and costumes
There is a cast of 35 including the puppeteers and many playing more than one role. Most of the cast gather for the auction, the men in pale brown and green heavy cotton and tweed. The women wear a little colour, with floral patterns, occasional aprons and hats or hair tied up in scarves. Carter, the auctioneer wears a long fawn-coloured coat and a brown bowler hat.
Albert’s father Ted Narracott is haggard, with grey stubble and mutton-chop whiskers. He wears mustard-coloured moleskin trousers with a matching waistcoat over his collarless cream shirt and brown neckerchief. His jacket is wrinkled dark brown canvas and he wears a a dark green trilby hat.
Albert Narracott is 15 at the start of the story, energetic with a broad grin, his reddish light brown hair is hidden under a flat cap.He wears a rough cotton sleeveless shirt, under a waistcoat and with woollen trousers herd up with braces and scuffed boots.
Albert’s mother Rose has her dark blond hair tied up in a loose bun. She wears a full length heavy cotton dark blue skirt and a pale blouse. Occasionally she wears a crocheted shawl around her shoulders.
Ted’s brother Arthur is at the auction. He is heavier and darker with a moustache and muttonchops sideburns. Arthur wears a khaki
-green three-piece suit with a watch-chain draping from the pocket of his waistcoat. His striped shirt has a collar which is neatly folded over a green tie.He also wears a trilby hat.
Arthur’s son Billy has short curly black hair. He wears a brown 3-piece suit and tie, with well-polished boots.
Captain Nicholls wears a Khaki coloured British army uniform, with a jacket, boots and a revolver in his belt.
The German soldiers wear blue -grey uniforms in a similar style to the British soldiers.
Captain Friedrich Muller is tall and lean with dark hair, a high forehead, deep-set dark eyes and sunken cheeks. He has a red band around his military cap , red epaulettes and red piping on his uniform.
The ambulance soldiers are identified by the red cross arm-band they wear on their great coats.
Paulette wears an ankle-length blue skirt and pale blouse with a waistcoat. Her hair is covered in a scarf. Her 7 year old daughter Emilie is played by a young woman in her twenties. She wears a grey-blue pinafore which falls below her knees, with white ankle socks and black pumps. She has curly black hair and smiling eyes.
Private David Taylor is a strong young man with large dark sad eyes under a furrowed brow, and short dark curly hair under his helmet.
Joey and Topthorn are each brought to life onstage by three puppeteers, known as the Head, the Heart and the Hind. The puppets are more than life size, measuring about 8 feet long and 10 feet tall. For the horses the puppeteers work together to animate the character and emotions of a horse. They do this through subtle gestures, moving its ears, breathing, snorting, a flicking of the leather strips that form the mane and the tail.
The Head puppeteer controls the ears and head and giving the horse its facial expressions and emotions. The Heart operator moves the front legs and body, while the Hind operator controls the back legs and tail. The puppets are made from cane, leather and reinforced aluminium and are able to carry a rider on top.
The puppeteers of Joey and Topthorn are dressed like stablehands in light brown shirts and trousers and flat caps. Topthorn’s puppeteers wear black.
The Singer is a tall woman, dressed in a long skirt, with a bodice worn over a pale flowered blouse. Her dark hair is worn in a bun, with loose tendrils of hair around her face.
It is estimated that ten million soldiers and eight million horses died in the First World War.
The National Theatre’s acclaimed production War Horse takes audiences on a journey from the fields of rural Devon to the trenches of the first Word War in France. Based on the novel by Micheal Morpurgo, this powerful drama is filled with music and songs. The Handspring Puppet Company from South Africa brings breathing, galloping horses and other puppet creatures, to life on stage. The show premiered in the National Theatre in London in October 2007.This is the first time that War Horse has toured in Ireland, North and South.
If you would like to hear these Programme Notes read out before the show, please take your seat 10 minutes before the show begins. The Audio Describers for the show are Marie Abbott and Cara Smith.
The live Audio Description will take place at the 2.30 Matinee performance on Saturday February 8th.
Story and set
On a farm in rural Devon in 1912 , Ted Narracott bids to buy a young reddish coloured foal at a local livestock auction. The first part of the play shows how Ted’s son Albert rears and trains his beloved horse Joey. Two years later Joey has grown to become a life size horse, and at the start of World War One, Joey is sold to a British Army Cavalry battalion. The play tells the story of Albert and Joey before and during that bloody war. We also meet Topthorn, a sleek black thoroughbred horse owned by a senior army officer, Captain Stewart and both horses are shipped off together to the battlefields of France. Albert is determined to follow Joey and bring him home to Devon.
When the curtains open, the stage is dominated by a wide uneven banner of white paper, hung high up above the stage. It looks like the paper has been torn from an artist’s sketchbook. Throughout the play drawings, images and films are projected onto this white strip, showing scenes of the countryside, of rolling hills, trees, a farmhouse or other locations in the village and over in the battlefields in France.
The stage is often dimly lit ,with mist or low lighting creating an atmosphere of time and place. Props are simply carried on or off stage by the cast members, for example using narrow wooden slats to form fences for the auction market, or to form a gate. A solitary door within a wooden frame allows access from the farmyard in to a house. A member of the cast leads a single puppet farmyard goose flapping its wings on a wheeled wooden stick. Light metal poles are used to fly birds above a scene. Cast members also manipulate hand-held puppet crows on the battlefield. Music and singing plays an important role in the show. Songs involve a single musician and, at times, other members of the cast The lead singer, a woman, plays an accordion to accompany the songs. Many of these are folk tunes or songs from the early part of the twentieth century, creating an atmosphere of the period.
Cast and costumes
There is a cast of 35 including the puppeteers and many playing more than one role. Most of the cast gather for the auction, the men in pale brown and green heavy cotton and tweed. The women wear a little colour, with floral patterns, occasional aprons and hats or hair tied up in scarves. Carter, the auctioneer wears a long fawn-coloured coat and a brown bowler hat.
Albert’s father Ted Narracott is haggard, with grey stubble and mutton-chop whiskers. He wears mustard-coloured moleskin trousers with a matching waistcoat over his collarless cream shirt and brown neckerchief. His jacket is wrinkled dark brown canvas and he wears a a dark green trilby hat.
Albert Narracott is 15 at the start of the story, energetic with a broad grin, his reddish light brown hair is hidden under a flat cap.He wears a rough cotton sleeveless shirt, under a waistcoat and with woollen trousers herd up with braces and scuffed boots.
Albert’s mother Rose has her dark blond hair tied up in a loose bun. She wears a full length heavy cotton dark blue skirt and a pale blouse. Occasionally she wears a crocheted shawl around her shoulders.
Ted’s brother Arthur is at the auction. He is heavier and darker with a moustache and muttonchops sideburns. Arthur wears a khaki
-green three-piece suit with a watch-chain draping from the pocket of his waistcoat. His striped shirt has a collar which is neatly folded over a green tie.He also wears a trilby hat.
Arthur’s son Billy has short curly black hair. He wears a brown 3-piece suit and tie, with well-polished boots.
Captain Nicholls wears a Khaki coloured British army uniform, with a jacket, boots and a revolver in his belt.
The German soldiers wear blue -grey uniforms in a similar style to the British soldiers.
Captain Friedrich Muller is tall and lean with dark hair, a high forehead, deep-set dark eyes and sunken cheeks. He has a red band around his military cap , red epaulettes and red piping on his uniform.
The ambulance soldiers are identified by the red cross arm-band they wear on their great coats.
Paulette wears an ankle-length blue skirt and pale blouse with a waistcoat. Her hair is covered in a scarf. Her 7 year old daughter Emilie is played by a young woman in her twenties. She wears a grey-blue pinafore which falls below her knees, with white ankle socks and black pumps. She has curly black hair and smiling eyes.
Private David Taylor is a strong young man with large dark sad eyes under a furrowed brow, and short dark curly hair under his helmet.
Joey and Topthorn are each brought to life onstage by three puppeteers, known as the Head, the Heart and the Hind. The puppets are more than life size, measuring about 8 feet long and 10 feet tall. For the horses the puppeteers work together to animate the character and emotions of a horse. They do this through subtle gestures, moving its ears, breathing, snorting, a flicking of the leather strips that form the mane and the tail.
The Head puppeteer controls the ears and head and giving the horse its facial expressions and emotions. The Heart operator moves the front legs and body, while the Hind operator controls the back legs and tail. The puppets are made from cane, leather and reinforced aluminium and are able to carry a rider on top.
The puppeteers of Joey and Topthorn are dressed like stablehands in light brown shirts and trousers and flat caps. Topthorn’s puppeteers wear black.
The Singer is a tall woman, dressed in a long skirt, with a bodice worn over a pale flowered blouse. Her dark hair is worn in a bun, with loose tendrils of hair around her face.
It is estimated that ten million soldiers and eight million horses died in the First World War.
