There are puppets, and then there’s Joey — the tail-flicking, snorting, galloping star of “War Horse.”
It’s almost impossible to believe he’s just cane and cloth and metal.
“It’s up-to-the-minute, 17th-century technology,” jokes Basil Jones, whose South African-based Handspring Puppet Company, with Jones’ partner Adrian Kohler, brought Joey, Topthorn and the show’s other animal characters to life.
In most cases, it takes three actors to play a horse: two working inside the body and another standing outside, manipulating the head.
To avoid the injuries that have sent legions of “Lion King” cast members to chiropractors, the “War Horse” actors perform on a rotating basis. A physiotherapist guides them through warm-up and cool-down exercises.
Prentice Onayemi, one of the dozen or so actors who had no previous puppetry experience, says an intensive, two-week training process left him feeling “empowered.”
Now charged with manipulating Joey’s head, he says, “Eventually, I had a sense that I could trust my actor’s instincts and translate them into the puppets.”
Marianne Elliott saw the challenges when she was approached to co-direct the play in London, where the show originated. “This sounds like absolute madness,” she recalls thinking. “It’s absolutely ridiculous — it can’t work.”
Fortunately for audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, she’s been proved wrong. This “War Horse” has sprung to magnificent life.