War Horse

In Flanders fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
~John McCrae

To say the theatrical production of War Horse is magnificent is to damn it with faint praise. War Horse is more than magnificent. It is nothing short of magic. As hard as it is to imagine, we were a scarce few minutes into the production last night before I ceased seeing the horses as puppets and began to see them as horses. The story is poignant and moving, brilliantly acted and mesmerizing.

Set in World War I, War Horse is the tale of a teenage boy and his horse who become separated. The boy is determined to find his horse who has been drafted into battle. Far beyond these central characters we meet other soldiers fighting on both sides with a common humanity, common fears, common loves. By the end of the show I was sobbing.

War Horse is on at the Princess of Wales. It is a show not to be missed.