War Horse

The Alhambra

A MILLION horses were sent to France between 1914 and 1918. Only 62,000 returned.

This year, the centenary of the end of the First World War, is a time to reflect on the conflict and its bewildering scale of human loss. And War Horse is a powerful reminder of the animals that suffered the same fate as men who were shot, blown up, poisoned, maimed and left to die in the mud and barbed wire.

The acclaimed National Theatre production - at the Alhambra for a month, the only Yorkshire venue on its UK tour - is an incredible theatrical experiences. Brought to life by the wonderful Handspring Puppet Company, the horses are spookily realistic; snorting, galloping, at times exhausted, frightened, friendly, responding to the slightest sound with a flick of an ear or a jerk of the head.

Based on Michael Morpurgo's book about Joey, a horse sent to war, and his faithful owner Albert, a farm boy who follows him to the front, the play presents the brutality of war from all sides. Shipped to France with the British Army, Joey is later used by the German cavalry to pull ambulance carts, before ending up tormented and tangled in wire in No Man's Land.

We first meet Joey as a foal, and we follow his growing devotion to Albert, until the church bells ring in their Devon village for the last time in August, 1914. Thomas Dennis conveyed beautifully the loyalty and spirit of Albert, a country boy who finds himself a long way from home. A searingly moving performance too from Jasper William Cartwright as his cousin Billy, whose terror in the trenches felt hauntingly real.

The pain etched on the face of William Ilkley, playing Billy's father, Arthur, said it all as he tried to take in the consequences of sending his frightened boy to war.

Powerful performances too from Peter Becker as Friedrich, the compassionate German captain trying to protect Joey and the thoroughbred Topthorn, and Toyin Omari-Kinch as Private David Taylor, Albert's cheeky pal, putting on a brave front as he goes with him over the top.

Adrian Sutton's haunting score, with soul-stirring folk songs led by the fabulous Bob Fox, carried the action, set against a projection of Rae Smith's striking artwork - taking us from a sunkissed English paddock to the stark, rain-soaked battlefields of northern France.

A must-see production - and this is the year to see it.

Runs until March 10.