I saw my first London theatre production this evening. Wow! I picked a great one to start.
A colleague on the Executive Committee of the International National Trusts Organisation (INTO) pulled together a group of six of us to see the New London Theatre’s production of War Horse, at the end of two days of meetings at the National Trust’s London headquarters. After a late afternoon tour of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (motto: it is amazing what you can build when you have the world’s treasures at your disposal), we walked past St. Martin’s in the Field, the National Gallery, and into the theatre district. London is a great place at night!
War Horse is an incredibly moving story of horses conscripted to fight in World War I, told in a remarkable way with life-sized puppets. The trailer that I’ve attached to the end of the post gives an idea of the realism these actors and puppeteers achieve, but seeing it live tops any video. As one of my colleagues said, “I knew I was going to cry at the end of the show, but I didn’t know whether the story would turn out well or sad.”
I won’t tell, just in case you get the chance to see it. If you do, please treat yourself. It is, quite simply, one of the best shows I’ve seen in live theatre in a decade or more.
I’ll give other updates from London later, but wanted to post this while the euphoria from the evening was still strong. The Sunday Times got it right, when they called the show “Stunning.”
More to come…
DJB
Filed under: Heritage Travel, Random DJB Thoughts | Tagged: Heritage Travel, Random DJB Thoughts, War Horse |
Thanks for your review of “War Horse” — it sounds intriguing. I recently learned about the history of “Old Baldy,” General Meade’s horse in the Civil War. Talk about a “never say die” horse who went through a lot. I’m not sure how I feel about that fact that his head is now mounted on a wall….
His story recounted in the Phila Inquirer here: http://tiny.cc/qyv2n
Hi, David:
Thanks for the “War Horse” posting.
The New York tickets are just becoming available for next March and beyond. I’m really looking forward to seeing it.
Of course, the really “in-the-know” types already caught the London production! 🙂
Tracy: You’ll LOVE it. What a terrific show. I’m glad to know that the NY tickets are now being sold, as I want to take Candice and the twins.
Thanks for reading.
DJB
[…] fine dining (a fabulous meal at Blue Hill) and the theatre (where we saw the New York production of War Horse, a show I was lucky enough to see last year in […]