Record-breaking War Horse hits the region

Seen by 4,000,000 people worldwide, the National Theatre production features the original brilliant Joey – the famous life-sized puppet horse created by the South African Handspring Puppet Company designers Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler.

Fashioned from skeletal bamboo frames and internal hinges, this is surely the most expressive puppet ever to grace the stage.

The much-anticipated production, showing from Wednesday (November 20) to January 18, 2014, has cast 11 actors from the North West.

Karen Henthorn, whose work includes roles in Coronation Street, Shameless, 
Doctors and Eastenders, plays Rose, the mother of central character Albert.

This lead role goes to North East actor Lee Armstrong.

Steven Hillman and David Fleeshman, with TV credits including Corrie, Emmerdale and Heartbeat, play brothers Ted and Arthur Narracott who bid against each other at auction to buy Joey.

The story, based on the original Michael Morpurgo children’s book, sees Joey sold to the cavalry and shipped to the scarred French battlefields of the 1914-18 war.

He is 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.

Albert cannot forget Joey, and embarks on a treacherous mission to find him and bring him home.

After record breaking West End performances, War Horse opened on Broadway, New York, in April 2011 for a two-month run, but closed 718 performances later in 2013.

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