What sets this play apart from many others is not the skill of the human actors, the props, story or costumes. Man and animal are reunited in a moving scene that proves that love cannot be destroyed by war. After years of bloody battle and disease, Albert sets off in search of Joey.
His human companion, Albert Narracott, also joins the army but is sent to a different battle front. The story follows an English farm horse called Joey, who is sold to the cavalry in World War I. The story is based on the popular 1982 book “War Horse”, written by Michael Morpurgo. Sources: Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones of Handspring Puppet Co.The play “War Horse” is a theatrical production that combines human actors, stage effects and life-size animal puppets. (An original foam tail was highly flammable - not ideal on a stage with gunfire and explosives.) Bicycle brake cables mounted on the hind leg rods move the tail up, down and sideways. Its "hair" is strips of Tyvek, a very strong but lightweight synthetic fiber. It telegraphs a horse's feelings and performs key tasks such as swatting flies, so a tail needs to be extremely flexible. The eyes are fixed, the ears stay upright and the mouth has no moving parts. But none of these things actually happens. It appears to nip and eat, ears appear to flatten and eyes seem to widen in terror. Puppet eyes are so important that Handspring has an entire eye department. "The way it catches light keeps it alive," he said. Clear resin is affixed over the painted iris and highly polished, so there is a wet look to it. They are the most natural-looking element in the puppet, Kohler said, even though Joey's don't move. This system flaps the wings of the bird puppets in the play as well. With the flick of one finger, the head puppeteer can move one or both ears. The solution was a simple cable and a rubber band pulling in opposite directions around a dowel. Kohler spent 25 years perfecting a mechanism that would make leather ears twitch 180 degrees as quickly and effortlessly as a horse's do. Backward? It senses danger and may run or fight. If its ears face forward, a horse is relaxed, or may be interested. They are a horse's key emotional indicator. Both the heart and hind puppeteer stand upright and must be of similar height, usually 5 feet 6 to 5 feet 10. He often initiates movement because his view of the stage can be better than the heart puppeteer's, who is sometimes blocked by the head and mane. He operates the tail and back legs from angled rods that resemble ski poles. For that reason, the heart puppeteer is constantly in motion and has to be the strongest of the three puppeteers. While an audience may not notice consciously, Kohler said Joey's breathing is what makes him seem to be alive. The puppet's torso rests in slots over the legs so it easily slides up and down, making the horse appear to exhale and inhale as the heart puppeteer bends and straightens its knees. He operates the front legs and part of the neck, but his key responsibility is the horse's breath. Kohler prefers simple mechanisms operated by people, so that each performance is unique. No puppets in the show contain electronics or robotics (with the exception of a tank made by another company). The puppet is less flexible than the adult version but still requires three puppeteers. Joey begins as a foal, a cross between a thoroughbred and a draft horse.
#Warhorse puppetry skin#
It also needed to be able to bare its teeth, so the head control system became more complex.Ģ004: The production of Tall Horse required a massive but lightweight giraffe with human puppeteers inside, so the Handspring craftsmen came up with the crane frame and transparent mesh skin that they would use for Joey and rival horse Topthorn in 2007. It was this puppet that future War Horse co-director Tom Morris saw and kept in mind.Ģ000: The lead character in The Chimp Project required extremely flexible limbs and hands, because in the story, a domesticated chimp teaches sign language to wild chimps. The jointed leg was controlled from behind with a lever and pulleys.ġ994: Two years later, a cynical, anthropomorphic hyena in Faustus in Africa had to be able to play checkers, so a more articulated paw was created in which two movements were controlled by a single cable. Joey is the culmination of years of puppet designer Adrian Kohler's experimentation in designing and refining puppets that move like animals.ġ992: Joey's leg mechanism can be traced to the play Woyzeck on the Highveld, in which a miniature rhinoceros needed to tap its front leg to pretend to count.
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