The award-winning hit show is based on a poignant book by Michael Morpurgo and has reopened to resounding success. The book was inspired by a conversation with a First World War veteran in Morpurgo's home village in Devon, and relates the extraordinary journeys of Joey, a horse sold to the cavalry, and his inconsolable young owner, Albert, who sets outs on a mission to rescue his much-loved animal companion from the trenches and killing fields of war-torn France.
War Horse was designed with the drum revolve stage in the Oliver Theatre at the National in mind; however, when the production moved to the New London Theatre, different stage dimensions and dynamics had to be considered, such as an auditorium with seating tiers in the understage, meaning reduced space availability for a drum revolve.
Delstar Engineering was brought in to devise a solution. The challenge was to recreate the effects made possible by the famous, high-tech drum revolve at the Olivier. Delstar engineers needed to reproduce the capability of the Olivier's revolve on a much simpler design in a much shallower height within the stage limitations of the New London. They did so by adapting a revolving stage, extending its diameter and changing the control to enable it to match the wide speed variations required for episodes in War Horse such as the battle tanks and ploughing scenes. This modified revolve allowed the production to move to the new venue as smoothly as possible, without having to deviate from its artistic ideal.
Laurence Holderness, production manager for the National Theatre commented: "We were very happy with the revolve structure and hydraulics provided by Delstar for the transfer of this production. These are two very different theatres and their engineering solution fits well in the new space."
War Horse is playing until September this year. For more on the production see the January 2008 issue of Lighting&Sound magazine, available free as an online, digital edition.
(Lee Baldock)
