This isn’t a sponsored post.
BrumHour saw War Horse at the invite of The Alexandra.
For Brum Radio’s Interval Theatre, Hayden Burke spoke about his role in this production and being back in Birmingham. Listen here:
By Dave Massey x.com/BrumHour
This production contains some strong language and inferred violence both to people and animals.
War Horse at The Alexandra: Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐”A powerfully emotional production”
Directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, adapted from Michael Morpurgo’s novel by Nick Stafford
Set across the First World War, War Horse follows the lives of Joey, a large horse living on a farm, who is taken to war and Albert (Tom Sturgess), a farmer’s son who looks after Joey. We follow both of them, across the years, throughout the play.
The story is filled with folk song interludes, which push the story forward, and large fight scenes with the large horse puppetry.
At this performance, Joey was performed by Tom Quinn, Lewis McBean and Michael Larcombe, and it is easy to forget they are there when Joey is moving across the stage or eating, we really feel Joey’s emotions. Tom Sturgess and Hayden Burke are both excellent as the two cousins who encounter Joey throughout the story. Sally Swanson charmingly provides most of the vocals appears to play the accordion, whilst the rest of the huge soundtrack appears from off stage providing a clear focus on the performance.
The set itself is a large black space with a ripped page from a book spanning the stage above, filled with stunning line style animation and powerful moments. The costumes look very much of the 1910s, and even the puppet performers are dressed as stable hands.
This is a powerfully emotional production about loss and determination which many people will connect directly to. I found seeing this again after nearly seven years a wonderful experience. And there are some shocking moments within the two hours and ten minutes (Plus interval).
War Horse is at The Alexandra until 19th July 2025. Book tickets here: atgtickets.com/shows/war-horse/the-alexandra-theatre-birmingham/.
