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The Horse's Mouth
By Mervyn Miller
National Theatre and Oberon Books £12 99
96 pages
Dateline: 1st November, 2007
Everybody who has seen War
Horse, the National Theatre's Christmas show adaptation of Michael
Morpurgo's teen novel, will be fascinated by this volume about its making.
Mervyn Miller was in the centre of events throughout, in his dual roles
as Young Joey, the pony that would grow to be the centre of a story
about the First World War; and Emilie, a little French girl who befriended
him.
His perspective on the events that led to what became a memorable production
is invaluable both for practitioners and those who will form what should
be a packed Olivier audience throughout the run.
The attractions of this collaboration between actors, writers and directors
on the one hand and puppeteers and video designers on the other must
be unique, at least in this country.
The component parts inevitably started with the selection of Morpurgo's
book as appropriate subject matter for a successor to His
Dark Materials and Coram
Boy. This was hardly obvious material for a play, since the
protagonist is a horse, whom it was decided at an early point in proceedings
would remain silent throughout the play.
This presented many challenges for the co-directors, Tom Morris whose
experience at BAC was invaluable in creating the physical and visual
effects and Marianne Elliott who is more used to text-based work. They
introduced writer Nick Stafford into the mix, together with designer
Rae Smith and the video team from Fifty Nine Productions.
Even this large creative team was only a starting point, since the
whole project rested on the remarkable talents of a South African theatre
and puppet making company, Handspring, without whose Adrian Kohler and
Basil Jones this show would have been much the poorer and quite possibly
would not have existed. They built the remarkable horses, seen in a
series of graphic photos in the middle of the book and around whom the
production was crafted.
This presented unique challenges to actors, puppeteers and directors,
as much of the theatre rule book (if there is such a thing) had to be
ignored. It is bad enough to act with animals and children but possibly
even worse when you have to play part or the whole of an animal or child
or act with puppet versions of them.
However, a talented and versatile 30-strong team of actors and musicians
knuckled down and worked extremely hard during the rehearsal period
to present what became a unique theatrical experience exploring both
war and the relationships between both animals and humans and humans
and humans.
The book has been logically compiled, considering the way in which
a novel about war could be effectively presented on stage, looking at
the way in which the National Theatre operates, and then exploring the
puppets and the space in which they were to be viewed.
The Horse's Mouth may be priced rather highly for the average
pocket but it offers a valuable insight into the way in which a large
ensemble worked together to invent a new theatrical language and then
perfected it before the play finally opened in front of 1200 people
in October, 2007. In particular, the way in which the two directors
collaborated and their interaction with the puppet company is fascinating
and perhaps offers a view of one possible future strand of theatre.
Philip Fisher
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