WarHorse - Chapter

WarHorse
Based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo
Adapted by Nick Stafford
Presented in association with the award-winning
Handspring Puppet Company
2011 West End cast photo by Brinkhoff/Mögenburg
Joey head
Joey heart
Joey hind
Topthorn head
Topthorn heart
Topthorn hind
ASHLEIGH CHEADLE, TAMSIN FESSEY,
EMMA THORNETT
NICHOLAS HART
ANDREW LONDON
SAM WILMOTT
NIGEL ALLEN
MICHAEL TAIBI
LEWIS PEPLOE
The Goose
TOM MEREDITH
THE PEOPLE
Captain Nicholls
Sergeant Allan/Colonel Strauss
Billy Narracott/Geordie
Rudi
Chapman Carter/Sergeant Fine
Sergeant Thunder
Arthur Narracott
Doctor Schweyk/John Greig
Thomas Bone/David Taylor
Musician
Songman
Ted Narracott
Captain Stewart
Gefreiter Karl
Friedrich Müller
Emilie
Paulette/Nurse Annie Gilbert
Rose Narracott
Priest/Veterinary Officer Martin
Albert Narracott
ALEX AVERY
OLIVER BEAMISH
ALISTAIR BRAMMER
EKE CHUKWU
EWEN CUMMINS
PAUL HAWKYARD
TOM HODGKINS
PIETER LAWMAN
BRIAN LONSDALE
DOǧAN MEHMET
BEN MURRAY
steve north
WILLIAM RYCROFT
JACK SANDLE
IAN SHAW
ZOË THORNE
EMMA THORNETT
JOSIE WALKER
BRENDAN WALL
SIÔN DANIEL YOUNG
GARETH ALED, ANTONY ANTUNES,
DEREK ARNOLD, RICHARD BOOTH,
DARREN COCKRILL, SERGIO PRIFTIS
Ensemble
All other parts played by members of the company
COLIN RAE (Music Director, trumpet,
flugelhorn, bugle)
NEYIRE ASHWORTH (clarinet, drum)
ANDY CALLARD (trumpet, flugelhorn)
JONATHAN EDDIE (French horn, tenor horn)
DAVID HOLT (trombone, euphonium)
Musicians
CREATIVE TEAM
Directors
Designer/Drawings
Puppet Design, Fabrication &
Puppetry Directors
Lighting Designer
Director of Movement &
Horse Choreography
Video Designers
Music
Songmaker
Sound Designer
MARIANNE ELLIOTT and TOM MORRIS
RAE SMITH
BASIL JONES and ADRIAN KOHLER
for Handspring Puppet Company
PAULE CONSTABLE
TOBY SEDGWICK
LEO WARNER and MARK GRIMMER
for 59 Productions Ltd
ADRIAN SUTTON
JOHN TAMS
CHRISTOPHER SHUTT
Produced for the National Theatre by CHRIS HARPER and STEPHEN REBBECK
With thanks to all production staff, the New London Theatre and
Really Useful Theatres Group
Please make sure all phones are switched off during the performance
Present by the National Theatre and National Angels
Coming up
King Lear
by William Shakespeare

‘Riveting. Simon Russell Beale is extraordinary.’
Photo (Simon Russell Beale) by Paul Stuart
CAST
THE HORSES
Joey as a foal
The story of War Horse was first conceived in front of a log fire in the Duke
of York pub in the small village of Iddesleigh in Devon in the winter of 1980.
Michael Morpurgo had a conversation with an old soldier from the First
World War about how he found himself in the trenches of Flanders. Other
men in the village – including a cavalryman – told him more about the
camaraderie and the pity, and he went on to write War Horse.
Some 25 years later, Tom Morris, then an Associate Director at the
National Theatre, contacted Morpurgo to say he would like to make a play
of the story, in association with Cape Town-based Handspring Puppet
Company. War Horse went on to begin a new chapter. It took two years
of workshops at the National Theatre Studio on how to make the horses
work, in tandem with the music, set and actors, to tell the compelling story
of Albert and his horse Joey against the backdrop of the Great War.
The show opened at the National’s Olivier Theatre in 2007 and transferred
to the West End in 2009. It has since been seen by 5 million people around
the world – including productions on Broadway, in Toronto and Australia.
War Horse is currently on tour in the UK and Ireland, and North America.
A German language production is running in Berlin (called Gefährten)
and a new Dutch language production will open in Amsterdam in June,
followed by a five-city tour of The Netherlands.
Daily Express
Broadcast live 1 May
Repeat screenings in many venues
The Curious Incident of the
Dog in the Night-Time
based on the best-selling novel by Mark Haddon
adapted by Simon Stephens
Photo (Luke Treadaway) © Hugo Glendinning
Running Time: 2hrs 45mins, including 20min interval
About War Horse

‘A beautiful, eloquent, dazzlingly inventive show.’
Evening Standard
Encore screenings from 22 May
Repeat screenings in selected venues
A Small Family Business
by Alan Ayckbourn
A riotous exposure of entrepreneurial greed,
which premiered at the National Theatre in 1987.
Broadcast live 12 June
Photo (NIgel Lindsay) by Phil Fisk
War Horse takes audiences on an extraordinary journey from the fields of
rural Devon to the trenches of First World War France. Filled with stirring
music and songs, this powerfully moving and imaginative drama is a show of
phenomenal inventiveness. At its heart are astonishing life-sized puppets by
South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company, who bring breathing, galloping,
charging horses to thrilling life on stage.
Repeat screenings in selected venues
Please turn over for more details of these upcoming broadcasts
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Making
WarHorse
Now available on region-free DVD
Includes:
• Feature-length documentary • Video diaries
• Behind the scenes films • Image gallery • Souvenir booklet
shop.nationaltheatre.org.uk
Documentary directed by David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky
Photo by Simon Annand
Worldwide shipping available
Upcoming broadcasts
King Lear
by William Shakespeare
Broadcast live 1 May
Repeat screenings in many venues
Academy Award® winner Sam Mendes (James Bond: Skyfall,
American Beauty) returns to the National Theatre to direct Simon
Russell Beale (Timon of Athens, Collaborators) in the title role of
Shakespeare’s tragedy.
An aged king decides to divide his kingdom between his three
daughters, according to which of them is most eloquent in praising
him. His favourite, Cordelia, says nothing. Lear’s world descends
into chaos.
Photo (Simon Russell Beale) by Paul Stuart
by William Shakespeare
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night-Time
based on the best-selling novel by Mark Haddon
adapted by Simon Stephens
Encore screenings from 22 May
Repeat screenings in selected venues
Photo (Luke Treadaway) © Hugo Glendinning
Following its smash-hit live broadcast in 2012, the National Theatre
production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
returns to cinemas. Winner of 7 Olivier Awards in 2013, including
Best New Play.
Based on the best-selling novel by
Mark Haddon
ADAPTED BY
SIMON STEPHENS
Christopher, fifteen years old, has an extraordinary brain – exceptional
at maths while ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. When he falls
under suspicion of killing Mrs Shears’ dog Wellington, he records each
fact about the event in the book he is writing to solve the mystery of the
murder. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a
frightening journey that upturns his world.
A Small Family Business
Photo (NIgel Lindsay) by Phil Fisk
by Alan Ayckbourn
A
Small
Family
Business
by Alan Ayckbourn
Broadcast live 12 June
Repeat screenings in selected venues
Jack McCracken: a man of principle in a corrupt world. But not for
long. Moments after taking over his father-in-law’s business he’s
approached by a private detective armed with some compromising
information. Jack’s integrity fades away as he discovers his extended
family to be thieves and adulterers, looting the business from their
suburban homes. Rampant self-interest takes over and comic
hysteria builds to a macabre climax.
Alan Ayckbourn’s riotous exposure of entrepreneurial greed returns
to the National Theatre where it had its premiere in 1987, winning
the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play.