War Horse reviews: just as magical and moving after 19 years

"Wondrous puppetry, perfect casting and Adrian Sutton’s wistful music make for a beautiful staging of this devastating First World War tale."

“While a sense of triumphant homecoming to the Olivier stage is entirely merited, this is, all the same, a theatrical blockbuster that never loses sight of the tragic sacrifice and loss it derives from.”

“As a result of the deft artistry of Joey’s three handlers, we invest as much in the splendid chestnut steed as its boyish carer and confidant, Arthur, does. From the vulnerability of the foal taking its first steps in its rustic milieu – dainty, with ears cocked – to the full-sized incarnation, panting and charging, there’s not a tail-flick or neck-inclination that looks misjudged or superficial.”

“Whether it’s the late Adrian Sutton’s music, combining folk songs with wistful strains redolent of Elgar, or the scenic magic of a sketch-book stirring to life, this is a single-minded collective endeavour to evoke and reanimate a vanished world”

“Tom Sturgess is just perfect – fresh-faced, smiling, finally haunted – as Albert: so, a new generation has taken the reins of this living, breathing monument to the fallen.”

“The show never fails to move me to tears.”

“Tom Morris and revival director Katie Henry trust adaptor Nick Stafford’s material completely, and are right to. Within 90 seconds the brain files “those are puppets” under irrelevant.”

“Toby Sedgwick’s choreography and Matthew Forbes’ puppetry direction make three people vanish into one creature, and the seam never shows. The horses don’t trot, they dance.”

“Adrian Kohler and Handspring Puppet Company haven’t built props: they’ve built animals with interior lives.”

“Rae Smith’s design does the most with almost nothing. Above the action hangs a torn strip of sketchbook sky onto which 59 Studio’s charcoal animations drift, clouds and dates and the slow scrawl of a frontline map, doing the work of a hundred tonnes of scenery.”

“Christopher Shutt’s sound lands shells behind your shoulder and stitches gunfire across the room until the house holds its breath, set against Adrian Sutton’s score and John Tams’ live folk songs.”

“The bare Olivier stage gives the company nowhere to hide, and that exposure is the gamble Smith’s design takes and wins: with no walls to lean on, the acting has to be true, and it is.”

“Rob Casey’s lighting conjures the worlds the scenery refuses to build. A wash of low gold and you’re in a Devon meadow at harvest. A cold sidelight and the same bare boards are a frozen French field at dawn.”

“The large company hold their own amidst the puppetry magic.”

"Nick Stafford’s stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel has lost none of its propulsive simplicity"

“At the heart of it all is Joey, turning a spotlight on the use and abuse of animals in earlier warfare, while also symbolising the war machine’s horrendous co-opting of every life. He remains a masterpiece of creativity and connection.”

“From young foal to adult horse, Adrian Kohler’s extraordinary puppets move with anatomical weight and heft – brought vividly to life by a rotating cast of rod-operating puppeteers under Matthew Forbes’ skilled direction.”

“It’s the chemistry that Sturgess, as Albert, forges with Joey that provides the heart beneath the unending roar of war. Together with the puppeteers, he never has to strain to make us care about their fate.”

“It’s easy to overlook the production’s most powerful feature: its nightmarish vision of the brutality of war. That’s something Morris and this revival’s co-director Katie Henry make forcefully clear.”

"Twenty years on and the National Theatre’s First World War-set megahit is still shockingly good."

"The puppets are astonishing. Made by the South African company Handspring, it’s not just that individual puppets are good, but that there are so damn many of them, from horses to birds to a tank."

"The ‘war’ section that takes up most of the play is, at its most intense, astonishing, a roiling living Guernica of nocturnal horror and nightmarish imagery."

"But to say this is a purely puppet triumph is selling the wider creative team short, from the lighting (originally Paule Constable, here Rob Casey) – which veers from perfectly naturalistic to stark and unearthly – to the unsettling cartoon-like projections of scarred and dying soldiers (by 59 Productions after designs by Rae Smith)."

"The horror of armed conflict isn’t exactly under-explored in art, but like Picasso’s great painting, it’s the juxtaposition of horrified animals with the artificial horror of twentieth-century warfare that makes War Horse so potent."

"It would be a crime to put Joey and co out to pasture when they still have so much to give."

"The National’s thoroughbred hit deserves another canter."

"If you aren’t one of the millions who have seen this on stage, it is worth going merely for the animal design."

"It’s a gorgeous show, a depiction of hardscrabble life on a Devon farm that in the second half becomes a depiction of decency amid the desecration of war in France."

"The large cast, many of whom have been touring this for a while, are first-rate. Tom Sturgess as Albert, Jo Castleton and Stephen Beckett as his parents, and Manuel Klein as the mutinous Cavalry Captain Müller are among the standouts."

"The pace can be stately — more trot than canter sometimes."

"The second half leans into more filmic animations of cavalry charges, tank battles and giant explosions. It’s too busy; it distracts from what’s on stage."

"Michael Morpurgo's classic tale is brought to life by dazzling puppetry."

"The stage production of War Horse is well-known for revolutionising the use of puppetry in British theatre, and seeing it on stage, it's easy to see why."

"Operated on this occasion by the three-person team – Matthew Lawrence, Lewis McBean and Felicity Donnelly – Joey may be made mostly of cane, but he is just as much alive as any other actor on the Olivier stage."

"The combination of this mind-boggling puppetry with clever set design and striking lighting means that audiences are fully immersed in the world of War Horse. Add to the mixture the late Adrian Sutton's masterful and emotive score, and you have a production that will shock, sadden, and uplift you, all at once."

"Fans of Morpurgo's original work will notice some changes in the script, including the removal of some peripheral characters, the unfortunate reduction of Lieutenant Nicholls's role, and a shorter overall timeline."

"The cast are clearly striving to bring the intensity of Morpurgo's tale to the stage; however, at times this leads to overacting, almost bordering on hammy."

"All-in-all, these gripes with the script and acting choices don't take away from the overall power of the production, thanks to the sheer strength of the other elements, notably the puppetry, set design and score."