On our trip to London our class watched the play War Horse, adapted for the stage by playwright

Nick Stafford from Michael Morpurgo's novel. It was performed in the New London Theatre on September the 22nd. The performance was complimented by its venue. The thrust stage allowed each member of the audience to take a unique perspective. The mood of play changes with location and as tension builds in the plot. The important points of the story are shown by the way pressure mounts in the scene because of the characters in it. Through their responses such as a raised voice, or by the use of movement, mime and gesture, the audience can see an effective climax/anticlimax within a scene. One key scene was when Joey was forced to pull the plough over a distance. The audience was shown the importance and relevance of Joey's struggle because of the aggressive voices of characters as they showed support or heckled. The movements and postures were also very essential in raising the tension and illustrating the scene as vital. Many on stage were almost bent double as they called to the horse. The horse puppet itself was made to express an immense strain and effort. The horse was made to twitch and shake as it endeavoured to haul the plough, and the fantastic puppetry of Joey made him seem lifelike which furthered the audiences relationship with him. Actors controlling the puppets had to concentrate on their use of characterisation in order to keep the play naturalistic and flowing. By mimicking the noises of the animals they acted as, they made use of the medium voice and in taking on the temperament of Joey, the use of the medium movement, mime gesture came through as well. As a mute character, Joey's emotions had to come from his reactions. Rather than making them apparent, the actors controlling him had to hint at Although the plough-pulling scene is important because of it's consequences in the war, it contrasts with the wartime scene greatly. As oppose to a plough, to harvest crops, Joey is made to pull a battery turret in order to kill soldiers and save himself and Topthorn. The jolly and optimistic nature of the earlier scenes switches with the harsh and dark attitude of wartime, an effective use of contrast as the audience was shown suffering and pain compared with the relative peace and tranquillity of the Exeter countryside. I was confused when I first saw the backdrop of the stage; it was what looked like a torn strip of paper. Later, the audience is shown its relevance as Albert tears a sketch out from Major Nicholls drawing pad and leaves to find Joey. The ripped paper across the cyclorama then becomes symbolic of the entire play, location shown through the animated drawings and giving it relevance. By its use, we are given more to develop our opinion of Major Nicholls. Other uses of symbolism are clear within the play, especially as many of them contrast between calm Exeter and the morbid wartime scenes. In Exeter, sparrows circled the stage and flew about the audience, lending a relaxed, friendly atmosphere to the setting whereas the crow puppets gave a dark tone because of their connection with death. The mood of the performance was also shown through sound, specifically the live music. A character came on stage at points in the play to sing and set the Exeter scene. To express location in the music, it held a slow rhythm and traditional of a countryside ballad as the story was told to the audience. The songs accompanied the dialogue in some cases and effectively became the narrative. This was shown at the very start of the play at the auction when Ted buys Joey. As the characters set the scene physically, the singer circled the stage, singing slow rhythmic tunes which made the performance appear more colloquial and friendly, which suited the context well. Later on, more live music was sung. Although the scenes contrast quite dramatically in context, the songs sung remained slow and peaceful which compared both locations and showed a relationship between the two. The actor playing Albert had to use an array of mediums, because of the wide range of situations he was in and the multitude of emotions he had to express in the play. From being so carefree and joyous when being with Joey, to the bitter determination he had in war, Albert was shown most obviously in his spoken language and voice as he could share his emotion with others on stage and to the audience. The audience could form a relationship with the character because of the honesty he showed in his voice his worry over Joey in several scenes could be heard from his melancholy tone, its slow pace and low volume. By keeping quiet and having a slow pace to his voice, the actor

showed Albert's loss of will, making him seem tired and weary. As he talked about Joey we were shown he was purposely drifting off and thinking of home, as a comfort or safe haven from the horrors around him. Although we see Albert develop through the play, by keeping his strong Devon accent in the performance, I feel that Albert was kept a strong central character. By remaining the same in ways unique to him, the audience felt more at ease to support him and had a much closer relationship to him all the way through. The use of lighting in certain parts was very effective as it highlighted the importance of a character or the scene in its entirety. In the market scene, where they made use of freeze frame, the flood lighting made the scene more memorable because although widespread, the hard edge and brightness focused the audience on the image as much as a spotlight would on a single character. Strobe lighting was used when Nicholls and Joey rode in to battle. It gave the effect of disorganisation and confusion which contributed to the mood when Nicholls is shot and killed. The explosive noises and sounds of guns added to the overall effect of chaos and with the strobe lighting made the form more realistic. By using strobe lighting, the scene became more memorable for the audience which was essential as the rest of the play was affected by his death. A gunshot rang out as Nicholls was shot and the scene reached its climax, the pace, rhythm and tempo of everything on stage slowed. The strobes became less rapid and faded along with the sound of the battle so as to concentrate on the magnitude of Nicholls falling off of Joey, dead. Mostly, the pacing of the play was kept naturalistic and flowing and scenes were shown in a chronological order. Performing in a chronological order made the play much more natural and relaxed as the audience can see the story develop. Although the battle up till then was shown in this way, the form changed as he fell. Nicholls was lifted off of Joey and carried back, as if pushed by the force of the bullet. This was done in slow motion and by using the technique, changed the form into a more abstract and detached perspective. Because of the changes in form and pace, rhythm, tempo, the scene had more of an impact on the audience. The set used in the starting scene was minimalist and creative, some characters held long poles that acted as props and pieces of scenery. By holding them vertically, they became a fence that other actors leant against. Although very simplistic, it was effective in setting the scene. During the war, they made use of set to illustrate not only the location, but the mood of the characters. Ruins of French buildings added to the atmosphere as being weary. They were painted grey, making the feeling of the wartime scenes dark and dreary. Costume was used as well as set to show the depression in scenes. Muller, a German soldier who had looked after Joey, wore an old faded trench coat taken from a dead companion which sent a graphic impression of the unforgiving times he was in. From their attire, the audience is given more information about the character, such as their location or importance. The market scene showed a captain in his uniform surrounded by local villagers, his clothing was different from the others and made him more dominant. Characters also expressed their importance and relationships with one another through their use of levels. In the scene where Ted attempts to take Joey, the audience could see how Joey's height frightened Ted, and when he was much younger, we could see Joey's fear of Ted for the same reason which expressed the confused and hostile relationship they had. When Joey was sold as a foal, the auctioneer played by the same actor that played the captain in the market, stood above the others to send across his power over what happened within the scene to the audience and the other characters. Through the use of levels, our attention was focused on certain characters, like when Nicholls rode to battle on Joey, other soldiers in his squadron were lower down, which concentrated the attention on to him and displayed him and what he did in the scene as pivotal. By using crosscutting, the performers could show a different perspective from each character, breaking the action up to enhance the tension in the narrative and build climax/anticlimax. One scene saw Ted and Rose looking at photographs of Albert, whilst across the stage we saw him lying in a ditch alone and thinking of Joey and in the centre, they showed Joey and Topthorn walking through the ruins of a French village with Muller. This was an effective use of crosscutting as it showed the main characters and who they thought of as important to them, Joey being of paramount concern to Albert no matter his circumstances.