Abstract
The process by which the theatrical audience “gets to know” the characters of War Horse develops through multiple factors, assessed here in relation to different adaptations of the work. This begins with author Michael Morpurgo’s narrative strategies fostered to heighten real-world connections to his stories, and expands into puppetry techniques designed to encourage an audience’s relationship with the characters on stage. This chapter also discusses War Horse in mediums including radio, feature film, and filmed live theatre, with an assessment of how the work develops amidst different approaches.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
1. “Source” is used here purely for chronological reasons: this loaded term can often be mistaken to reflect authority or superiority, based on its temporal seniority: this is a practice often termed “fidelity discourse” (see, e.g., Stam 54).
- 2.
2. The Alice puppet now hangs in the lobby at the New London Theatre in a gesture to the original production (Wall).
- 3.
3. In Morpurgo’s sequel novella, Farm Boy, the village is named as the author’s home village of Iddesleigh, Devon (30), which inspired the book’s setting (see also Butcher).
- 4.
4. Images of the Joey painting are available at http://warhorseart.com/story-joey-painting.php: due to licensing difficulties, we were unable to reproduce them in this book.
- 5.
5. “Within the Sogolon traditions from Mali, shows are staged in an open clearing, often a space defined y convention, around which viewers will be seated on the ground. Into this free-form arena, puppet figures of the castelet type will bound. The much-favoured antelope castelet figure is a puppet capacious enough to contain several puppeteers beneath its cloth torso” (Fleishman 190).
- 6.
6. Cast member Brendan Murray related that once puppeteers were “in-horse,” others in the company always respected their personal space to foster the focus required for the task (Murray 2015). Another cast member, Ryan Reid, spoke of how when he was “in-horse” to operate Topthorn, he and his fellow puppeteers would ensure human actors kept their respectful distance with (horse-based) verbal and physical cues (Reid 2015).
- 7.
7. With thanks to Nathan Jones from the BBC and Julia Wyatt of Berlin Associates for information on this production.
- 8.
8. So specific is Only Remembered’s connection to War Horse that Morpurgo chose it as the title of a centenary collection of poems and images he edited in 2014.
- 9.
9. Various worldwide productions of War Horse feature prominently in Chap. 6.
References
Brook, Peter. “Filming a Play.” The Shifting Point: Theatre, Film, Opera, 1946–1987. New York: Harper and Row, 1987, 189–191.
Gardner, Lynn. “Why Digital Theatre Poses no Threat to Live Performance.” The Guardian, 17 January 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2014/jan/17/digital-theatre-live-performance-stream-nt-broadcasts
Gardner, Lynn. “To Beam or Not to Beam? How Live Broadcasts are Changing Theatre.” The Guardian, 6 May 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2015/may/06/effects-of-live-satellite-broadcasts-national-theatre-rsc?CMP=share_btn_fb
Gefährten. Dir. Polly Findlay. Perf. Heinz Hoenig. Adapt. John von Düffel. Theatre des Westens, Berlin. 20 October 2013–28 September 2014. Stage play.
Kohler, Adrian. “Thinking Through Puppets.” Handspring Puppet Company. Ed. Jane Taylor. New York: David Krut, 2009, 42–150.
Millar, Mervyn. The Horse’s Mouth: How Handspring and the National Theatre Made War Horse. London: Oberon Books, 2007. Rev. ed.
Millar, Mervyn. Personal Email Correspondence. 29 June 2015 (2015).
Millar, Mervyn. Personal Interview (Jackman and Malone via Skype). 2 July 2015 (2015).
Morpurgo, Michael. War Horse. London: Kaye and Ward, 1982.
Murray, Brendan (War Horse Company Member, Toronto 2012–13, North American and Japanese Tour, 2013–14). Personal Interview, 29 September 2015.
Reid, Ryan (War Horse Company Member, Toronto 2012–13, Gefährten Germany 2013–14). Personal Interview. 4 December 2015.
Richard Burton’s Hamlet. Dir. John Gielgud. Perf. Richard Burton, Hume Cronyn. Theatrofilm, 1964. Filmed Stage Production.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Malone, T., Jackman, C. (2016). “We Get to Know Him”. In: Adapting War Horse. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59475-4_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59475-4_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59474-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-59475-4
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)