"War Horse" Front and Center on British Stage

Ok, it's Sunday...what's in the papers? My favorite story today is from the Telegraph in England, where a new play opens at the National Theatre. "War Horse" is based on a children's book by Michael Morpurgo and the Telegraph serves up a great interview with the author.

In the book, an English horse named Joey is shipped to France to help the Brits win World War I, ends up captured by the Germans who make him into an artillery-hauler, and when he goes down in the fighting, is recognized on both sides of the battlefield; British and German soldiers rush to the aid of their beloved equine brother-in-arms. (That's a gross over-simplification, I know.) For a short moment, there is peace between men who unite to save a horse's life.

Right: Black Beauty meets The Red Badge of Courage. But wait a minute, it's more than that.

Two million horses died in World War I. Farmers, huntsmen and hostlers sent their best and most beloved horses to fight the war, just as they went themselves, or sent their sons. The British soldiers who survived returned at the end of the war without their horses; they sold their "lucky" horses to French butchers, en masse, according to the author.

The theatrical production uses a giant puppet from the Handspring puppet troupe to tell the horse's tale; Joey towers over the humans on stage, in more ways than one.


Note: In the interview, the author recalls the inspiration for the book. An orphan child who had stopped speaking because of severe stuttering was in his equine therapy program. The author came into the barn one day and overhead the child chattering--without a stutter--to a horse.

I've heard similar stories about a farrier who stutters badly when speaking to owners, but when left to shoe the horse, is often secretly overhead chatting amiably with the animal. When someone human comes up the barn aisle, the stutter returns.

The author runs a terrific charity called "Farms for City Children".