War Horse, which has now been seen by over 2 million people in London and by over 4.6 million worldwide, is directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, designed by Rae Smith, with puppet direction, design and fabrication by Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler for Handspring Puppet Company, lighting by Paule Constable, and movement and horse choreography by Toby Sedgwick, with video design by Leo Warner and Mark Grimmer, songmaker John Tams, music by Adrian Sutton and sound by Christopher Shutt. War Horse received its world premiere at the National Theatre in October 2007.
At the outbreak of World War One, Joey, young Albert’s beloved horse, is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France. He’s soon caught up in enemy fire, and fate takes him on an extraordinary odyssey, serving on both sides before finding himself alone in no man’s land. But Albert cannot forget Joey and, still not old enough to enlist, he embarks on a treacherous mission to find him and bring him home.
The new West End cast, from 17 March 2014, comprises Gareth Aled (Joey/Topthorn Head), Antony Antunes (Joey/Topthorn Hind), Caroline Bowman (Topthorn Hind), Clare Louise Connolly (Emilie/Baby Joey), Sophie Crawford (Songperson/musician), Ewen Cummins (Chapman Carter / Soldat Schmidt), Christopher Dickins (Sergeant Fine/Col Strauss), Drew Dillon (Rudi), Hasan Dixon (Captain Stewart), James Donovan (Joey/Topthorn Heart), Matthew Flynn (Ted), Nicholas Hart (Joey Head), Pernilla Holland (Annie Gilbert), Ian Houghton (Sergeant Allan/Manfred), Elan James (Klebb), Richard Katz (Friedrich Muller), Chris Kelham (Dr Schweyk/Vet Martin), Jason Langley (Captain Nicholls), Dylan Llewellyn (Billy Narracott), Andrew London (Joey Heart), Brian Lonsdale (Thomas Bone), Jack Loxton (Albert Narracott), Abigail Matthews (Baby Joey), Tony McGeever (David Taylor), David Nellist (Sergeant Thunder), Will Palmer (Joey/Topthorn Head), Lewis Peploe (Joey/Topthorn Hind), Jack Sandle (Priest/Gefreiter Karl), Lisa Stevenson (Rose Narracott), Julian Stolzenberg (John Greig), Michael Taibi (Joey/Topthorn Heart), James Alexander Taylor (Topthorn Heart), Emma Thornett (Baby Joey/Paulette), Sam Wilmott (Joey Hind), Simon Wolfe (Arthur Narracott) and Miles Yekinni (Topthorn Head).
War Horse is produced in the West End by the National Theatre and National Angels.
