Last night, I headed back to the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton to see War Horse. I’m not going to lie, I was so excited when this popped into my inbox as I have been dying to see War Horse for ages. My Mum and I, every year have said, yep, this is the year we are going, and then just never did! So, it is nice to have FINALLY have seen the show!
The Mayflower was completely and utterly PACKED from what I could see, which screams how good the show is to me, and let me tell you, it was a bloody good show. There were moments of laughter and joy and then the complete opposite where you were sitting on the edge of your seat wondering if everyone was going to survive.
The show is intense! Like super intense! I don’t want to spoil it, but man, its intense (have I said that enough!). All I will tell you is that it is based on the Michael Morpurgo book, War Horse, and is set in the First World War. I 100% recommend that you take tissues as tears will fall at some point during the show.
One thing that was really nice about the show, is that they put brief moments of comic relief to just lift the show a little bit. My favourite thing they did was with this little goose puppet. The goose was desperate to get inside the house and every time he attempted, he would get whacked in the face with the door! Little moments like this just lifted the tension that was created from the incredible show. There were also some pretty funny jokes along the way, which not only lifted the tension in the audience, but I’m sure it would have lifted tension down in the trenches.
Another really nice touch for me was the music. The music was very country like and very folky and that is the kind of music I love. In fact, the old traditional country and folk music is my favourite and something that I could listen to on repeat. The music really worked well in the play and it was a really nice transitioning technique in between scenes.
Ever since hearing about the show and seeing pictures of the horse puppets, I was concerned. To be honest, when I first saw them, I didn’t like them. I felt that in the pictures they weren’t all that realistic. But oh was I wrong! Seeing them moving in real life, I could honestly have thought they were real. After a while you kind of don’t see the puppeteers (I mean this in a good way!). You just think that there are real horses up on the stage and it was just wonderful. I’m a real horse person, and I was shocked and presently surprised at how realistic Joey and Topthrorne looked.
The cast were also incredible. The acting and all of the puppetry and all the set changes that they had to do. I am in absolute awe. Some of the things they did on the stage was just mind bogglingly brilliant. I really enjoyed how they showed someone falling off their horse because they had been shot. I thought it was really quite clever.
WARNING: History nerd coming out here! I feel like the play really represented the First World War really well. I love my history and I love my theatre, and I felt that this had that balance of theatrics and historical accuracy. What was great was when the war was announced that they mentioned that they thought the war was only going to last a few months and that there was so much pride in the young signing up to fight, when in reality, the war lasted for four years and no one expected the horrors of the war.
Honest opinions? I LOVED IT. I think you can 1000% tell in my gleaming review that this show was brilliant. It was so different to other plays and musicals that I have seen, but different in a very good way! I have tried so hard not to reveal too many spoilers (if you have read the book and/or seen the film you will know it all anyway!) as I really and truly feel that you need to go and see this play at some point. Thank you to both the Mayflower Theatre and the Southampton Bloggers for the invite. Make sure you check out more of my theatre posts here. If you would like to book tickets to see War Horse at the Mayflower (here until the 9th June) have a little look here. Or, see where else the show is heading here!
