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War Horse UK Tour - New Wimbledon Theatre
- Syd
- Aug 7, 2025
- 4 min read
War Horse takes the suburb writing of Michael Morpurgo and translates it to the stage, transporting the audience to the farmlands of England in 1914 and to the trenches of France during the First World War.
Based off the book by Michael Morpurgo ‘War Horse’ follows Albert Narracott and his horse Joey and they’re forcibly separated by the First World War. Act One takes place in the English farmlands as the audience watches how Joey and Albert became a pair, whilst Act Two is set in the midst of the French battlefield, while our two protagonists are separated from one another.
The biggest draw of the show is clearly the puppetry. There are three main puppets in the show being Joey, Topthorn and Foal Joey. All three horse puppets have three cast members bringing them to life, for this particular performance Joey was puppeteered by Rianna Ash, Chris Milford and Samual Parker. With Topthorn being played by Tom Quinn, Michael Jean-Marain and Michael Larcombe. 13 different puppeteers play Joey and Topthorn in rotation at different performances.
The roles are split between head, heart and hind with two of the three performers hidden within the puppet, only their legs and occasionally arms visible. Each puppeteer takes on many parts of each horse, the head has the puppeteer along with having a long rod to help the movements of the head and neck, controls the ears, which can move separately or together which creates an incredible sense of realism. The heart role has the shoulders and front legs to control while the hind takes on the back legs of each horse and has the added task of keeping the tail moving. The three puppeteers move seamlessly together to create the perfect illusion that there’s real horses on the stage.
Asides from horses the rest of the puppet that take to the stage are a host of songbirds and crows adding life to the scenes, other less built up horse puppets that just use the performers legs and the horses head on their shoulders. And the audience favourite, the goose. The goose is played by the same performer who plays Topthorn’s hind, for this performance it was Michael Larcombe. Larcombe got many laughs from the audience as the goose in act one creating lightheaded comedic moments with Joey and the rest of the Narracott family.
The set is kept to a minimum, with many pieces such as fences being held by ensemble members for the duration of the scene, the houses being a mere door and window and one or two carts later in the show. With such little set it would feel like a drawback but infact it does the opposite. It keeps the audience’s attention right where the director, Tom Morris, wanted it to be. The backdrop stays completely black during the whole show other than one strip of white that looks like it has been torn from a book. Drawings, by Rae Smith, display over the white page showing the audience where each scene takes place, occasionally with dates and place names. It’s a clever and unique way to convey the setting for a play and it only enhances the beauty of the show.
Stand out moments are watching foal Joey become older, it’s an incredible piece of puppetry that leaves the audience with chills, which is only enhanced by the song being sung by Sally Swanson and the ensemble in the background. By far the most heartwarming moment of the whole show is watching Joey and Albert reunite after years of trying to find each other, it’s a beautiful moment which no doubt will have the audience tearing up.
The production makes good use of the space it’s in, having actors singing or playing instruments in the dress circle and solders down at the front of the stalls. The only problem that yields is if not in the perfect seat, it’s more than likely one or more of those moments will be missed.
Tom Sturgess takes on the role of Albert Narracott, a 16 year old boy desperate to be with his companion, Joey. Sturgess is breathtaking from start to finish with his performance, displaying Albert’s endearing bonds that pull on heartstrings. He shows Albert’s passion and determination along with the free spirit he has. He perfectly captures the characters growth from young boy into the man that the show ends with. Sturgess takes on lighthearted scenes like training foal Joey showing a childlike joy and on the flip side shows his acting brilliance in Act Two scenes in the trenches. It takes undeniable talent to have the amount of chemistry with a puppet Sturgess has. His portrayal is excellent on all levels.
Other stand out performances are Sally Swanson as the singer, bringing a beautiful voice to the stage. Alexander Ballinger as Captain Friedrich Müller who fights his inner turmoil of rights and wrongs of war and his want to protect what’s dear to him, and Chris Williams as Lieutenant Nicholls whose drawings we watch help create the story of war horse.
As incredible as the performance may be, it might not be the easiest for some to watch. Throughout Act Two and the end of act one the background music gets extremely loud, to emphasise the moments happening on the stage, and gun shots can be heard quite frequently. The use of flashing lights is usually accompanied by said gunshots which some may struggle watching if sensitive to flashing lights. The depiction of corpses can be seen on the white page backdrop while animal death is seen during Act Two. The puppeteers make the horses so realistic that it could be distressing for audiences to watch them in pain and dying.
War Horse is a breathtaking piece of art that perfectly captures love, loss and the bond between human and horse.
Overall Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4*)
(AD | Ticket gifted in exchange for an honest review)
Show Information
Venue: New Wimbledon Theatre, London
Playing until the 16th August 2025 in London before continuing on its tour of the UK finishing in November.
Run Time: 2h40 min - including an interval
Ticket prices starting from £15 can be found on the show's official website. Click the link here to book online.
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