Run, don't walk
Jun. 30th, 2011 01:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityvixenYou simply must see War Horse to believe it when I tell you it is the most astonishing thing I've ever seen on the stage. I can think of plenty of shows that impressed me with this, that, or the other gimmick. War Horse was so brilliant, I can only say that the whole thing makes seeing the whole thing worth it. There's no one effect that "makes" the play--everything makes it.I choked up when the first adult horse came screaming out onto the stage. I almost cried just with the sheer joy and amazement of this creation. The story made me cry plenty, but it wouldn't have been half so wonderful (and awful, in the best sense) were it not for how alive the horse puppets are. I doubt real horses could be so moving. The puppets are that eerie and beautiful. One came jogging up the aisle all of three seats away from me. I gasped aloud. (I wasn't alone.)
World War I is such a depressing setting, though, I'll warn you. It's the most senseless war ever, fought completely wrongheadedly, almost start to finish. It's the last gasp of the old ways being crushed (or shot or gassed) by the new ways of waging war. And it makes a horrible and perfect backdrop to a story that is consumed by man's inhumanity--to other men and to all creatures considered less than human. As a result, every stupid, venal, random thing that befalls anyone is sure to just depress the shit out of you. War Horse makes it that much worse by making it beautiful. There's a scene involving an ill-fated cavalry charge where both horses and riders are puppets, which makes the riders look lifeless. This is very appropriate, given the inevitable result of this charge, so it's incredibly morbid before the expected slaughter. But it also serves to make the life-like collapsing and spasms of the horses all the worse (and, naturally, better).
Nothing is overlooked in the pursuit of wringing as much emotion from the audience, from the animated performances of the puppeteers to the fantastic definition over the horses' faces and musculature to the use of accents to perfectly convey miscommunication (isn't that ironic?). Right down to the choice of fabric draping over the horse skeleton structure to visualize, in an instant, the health of the animal in question, this play makes all the right decisions and overlooks nothing. Wow. Just...wow. Absolutely worth the price of admission.
World War I is such a depressing setting, though, I'll warn you. It's the most senseless war ever, fought completely wrongheadedly, almost start to finish. It's the last gasp of the old ways being crushed (or shot or gassed) by the new ways of waging war. And it makes a horrible and perfect backdrop to a story that is consumed by man's inhumanity--to other men and to all creatures considered less than human. As a result, every stupid, venal, random thing that befalls anyone is sure to just depress the shit out of you. War Horse makes it that much worse by making it beautiful. There's a scene involving an ill-fated cavalry charge where both horses and riders are puppets, which makes the riders look lifeless. This is very appropriate, given the inevitable result of this charge, so it's incredibly morbid before the expected slaughter. But it also serves to make the life-like collapsing and spasms of the horses all the worse (and, naturally, better).
Nothing is overlooked in the pursuit of wringing as much emotion from the audience, from the animated performances of the puppeteers to the fantastic definition over the horses' faces and musculature to the use of accents to perfectly convey miscommunication (isn't that ironic?). Right down to the choice of fabric draping over the horse skeleton structure to visualize, in an instant, the health of the animal in question, this play makes all the right decisions and overlooks nothing. Wow. Just...wow. Absolutely worth the price of admission.
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Date: 2011-06-30 11:54 am (UTC)I think I'll stick with the poetry of Wilfred Owen when I want to feel depressed about it.
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Date: 2011-06-30 02:07 pm (UTC)But it will, undoubtedly, reduce most mortals to weeping messes. Several dudes around me were crying, I'm just saying. It's hard to say that the war ever really fades into the background, but there are points where the sheer cruelty and suddenness of the violence burst through. I jumped, several times, when a turn caught me by surprise. It may not be the play for you, but you'll really be missing out. (Sorry, don't mean to rub that in.)