First an admission. Although this is on at the State Theatre, and the Victorian Arts Centre in St Kilda Rd, I saw a preview at the Regent theatre in mid-December. I don't know if there are any changes to the production since I saw it, but as there were no major problems I assume it has gone to performance unchanged.
I have never read the book, and always stop the film about half way through, because I find it quite upsetting. But I am glad that there was no way to get out of this, because the experience was incredibly rewarding.
The story revolves around a boy and his horse, who are together from the time of the horse Joey being a foal. The family are a poor farming family and his father finds out that they can get good money selling a well trained horse to the army for World War I.
We follow Joey's story as he goes through battle, having to establish his territory with other horses in the platoon and capture by the German army. His owner embarks on an equally arduous journey to find him and hopes to find his beloved horse alive and still able to recognise him.
The horses are all presented as the most amazing, high tech puppets. They are made of cane and mesh, and the adult horses are operated by three puppeteers. They are created by the South African puppetry company Handspring, and, along with the staging (sets, lighting and music), make this show worth the time to see. It's really about the resilience of the horses, and to be able to watch these objects that look enough like horses for you to believe, but not like the real thing so you know they are man-made is breath-taking. You forget that the puppet operators are there, and just allow yourself to become emotionally involved in the story.
The handling of the horrors of war is thoughtful, but pulls no punches. This is an excellent show to explain to young people about the realities and horrors or war, rather than what they see in the computer games. Although the fate of the animals may not be really appropriate for very young children. There was one poor woman taken from the theatre who did not cope well with some of the more graphic scenes.
My main concern for this show was the ability to understand what the actors were saying. Only one actor was consistently understandable, and having seen him on television (Nicholas Bell), I know he was using his own English accent. I don't think that the issue was the sound system, I believe that it was more likely the fact that many of the actors were trying accents that they were not used to (mostly Yorkshire, I think) and were swallowing their words. It seemed that many of them were mumbling, which made it very important that you were able to work out what was going on from the action.
I saw the play with a theatre full of teenagers, and I must say I was amazed at the response. They allowed themselves to become fully involved in what was going on. For many it was the first time they had seen a live performance and they were in awe. They also were talking about the show all the way out and all the way home (no I didn't take all of them home, but a bus full............ that was plenty).
If you are not a regular theatre goer, this is a perfect introduction to the world of theatre. If you are, it stands against any of the many productions I have seen in recent years. Definitely worth the time if you can get tickets.
At the Victorian Arts Centre until March 3.
Are Orsons relevant? Yes, he performed on stage!
4 Orsons.
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