The National Theatre’s War Horse will embark on a major new tour, bringing the extraordinary story by Michael Morpurgo to a theatre near you.
Opening at the New Wimbledon Theatre on 5th September 2024, the show will then travel across the UK, touring through to 2026.
War Horse, adapted by Nick Stafford and originally directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, has become the most successful play in the history of the National Theatre, winning more than 25 major awards. It has been seen by more than 8.3 million people worldwide.
The show tells the remarkable story of a young boy called Albert and his horse Joey, set against the backdrop of World War One. This imaginative drama is a show of inventiveness, filled with stirring music and songs, featuring ground-breaking puppetry work by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company, which brings breathing, galloping, charging, horses to life on stage.
Some of the theatres on the War Horse tour include:
- Mayflower Theatre, Southampton: 8th-19th October
- Sunderland Empire: 5th - 16th November
- New Theatre Oxford: 10th December - 4th January, 2025
- The Regent Theatre, Stoke: 4th - 8th March, 2025
- Milton Keynes Theatre: 22nd April - 3rd May
- Bristol Hippodrome: 3rd - 21st June.
Director, Tom Morris, said: “It is a huge privilege to be invited to revisit War Horse and to share this powerful story once more with audiences around the country.
“Michael Morpurgo’s brilliant idea, to explore the crushing violence of war through the experience of a horse, makes his story as powerful and resonant today as it has ever been.
“It has been an enormous thrill to return there in recent months to reunite Adrian Kohler’s magnificent puppets with designer Rae Smith, composer Adrian Sutton and other members of the original cast and creative team to start the process of bringing Joey back to the stage.”
Author, Michael Morpurgo added: “I am so delighted the National Theatre’s iconic production of War Horse is back! When Covid closed the show down in 2020 in Australia in the midst of its second world tour, many thought, and I was amongst them, that we’d never see War Horse on stage again.
“Now it’s really happening - we will hear the music and songs, be amazed by its design and lighting, and live Joey’s story again. The show is about the tragedy of war and about a horse and his boy, but it’s also so many other things - it’s about family and community, courage and loss, hope, and most importantly reconciliation.”
About the show
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 journey, serving on both sides before finding himself alone in no man’s land.
“The show is about the tragedy of war and about a horse and his boy, but it’s also so many other things - it’s about family and community, courage and loss, hope, and most importantly reconciliation.”
Michael Morpurgo
Albert, who remained on his parents’ Devon farm, cannot forget Joey. Though still not old enough to enlist he embarks on a treacherous mission to find him and bring him home.
This tour of War Horse marks 110 years since the start of World War One and follows the 40th anniversary of the publication of Michael Morpurgo’s global best-selling novel, which has now sold more than 35 million copies worldwide.
The production received its world première on 9th October 2007 at the National Theatre, where it played for two seasons before opening at the New London Theatre in March 2009.
Since then, War Horse has been seen in 97 cities in 14 countries, including productions on Broadway, in Toronto and Berlin, with touring productions in the UK and Ireland, North America, the Netherlands and Belgium.
For more information visit warhorseonstage.com.
