Highest praise for return of National’s hit show

Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre

Some of the most moving and insightful reviews for some time greeted the return of War Horse to the National Theatre. There was praise for the concept of using puppetry and the execution. All paid tribute to the quality of the production and its effectiveness in conveying the horror of war through the story of a young man and his horse. Its average rating of 4.9 stars is the highest given to a production since this website began its reviews roundups two-and-a-half years ago.

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Holly O’Mahony for LondonTheatre described: ‘Through unrivalled stagecraft that pours care into every tiny detail, it tells the irresistibly moving story of a boy and his horse, and a bond that takes them from rural Devon to the battlefield of World War I in France.’

Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski reported: ‘It turns out War Horse is still incredible. Number one, the puppets are astonishing. Made by the South African company Handspring, it’s not just that individual puppets are good, but that there are so damn many of them, from horses to birds to a tank (…) and the standard of the puppetry and puppet direction (originally by Handspring’s Adrian Kohler, now by Matthew Forbes) is second to none (…) Number two: (…) It’s sturdy, unfussy storytelling, but this gives it a purity and timelessness’.

Maygan Forbes at WhatsOnStage extoled the virtues of this production: ‘Coleridge may ask us to suspend disbelief but War Horse simply confiscates it (…)Within 90 seconds the brain files “those are puppets” under irrelevant. Joey breathes, flinches, swivels an ear toward a voice. Toby Sedgwick’s choreography and Matthew Forbes’ puppetry direction make three people vanish into one creature, and the seam never shows. The horses don’t trot, they dance.’ Her eulogy ended: ‘In an age teaching machines to counterfeit feeling, here is the opposite: four people, a heap of cane, breathing together. As long as War Horse exists, the National will be fine. Bring tissues. You’ll think you’re above it. You are not.’

Rachel Halliburton at The Arts Desk gave us a detail: ‘In this production – for which Morris is now the director, and Katie Henry the revival director – the extraordinary detail of the way the horse is animated captures you from the start. Joey the foal, who – like the adult Joey – is made from cane, aluminium, stretch net and a synthetic material called Tyvek, lurches unevenly after he is born, before taking off at an experimental gallop. The puppeteers – Jordan Paris, Eloise Beaumont Wood and Anita Adam Gaby – manipulate him to show every twitch of fear, uncertainty, hope, and exhilaration.’

BroadwayWorld‘s Aliya Al-Hussan was not alone in praising the human contribution: ‘Tom Sturgess makes a spirited and sympathetic Albert, with good development between being a younger boy, moving into becoming a man.’ She ended with a heartfelt response to its iumpact:  ‘The fact that most of the audience are wiping away tears at the end shows the extent of emotion this production illicits. But the distress is intrinsic to the impact: this is no melodramatic pull-on-the-heartstrings. The Great War really happened and many hundreds of thousands of Joeys and Alberts lay where poppies now grow. This is theatre and theatrical invention at its finest.’

Tom Wicker for The Stage reminded us: ‘the design and operation of its stunning rod puppetry has proven so influential that it’s easy to overlook the production’s most powerful feature: its nightmarish vision of the brutality of war. That’s something Morris and this revival’s co-director Katie Henry make forcefully clear, as Joey returns to his home theatre.’

The Telegraph‘s Dominic Cavendish also ruminated on the tragedy of the story: ‘The huge risk taken by the show’s creative team – led by directors Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris (who now oversees this fresh iteration) – was to flip the conceit of Morpurgo’s 1982 novel. Instead of the action being narrated by the horse (Joey), our equine hero is placed centre-stage, but mute – in its own world. That could have resulted in a dramatic deficit; instead, owing to the ingenuity of the puppetry (by Handspring) and our own imaginations, this wondrous creature becomes the emblem of innocent suffering in the face of indescribable horror.’

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

The only major reviewer not to award five stars was The Times’ Dominic Maxwell. His reservations were: ‘It’s not flawless. The pace can be stately — more trot than canter sometimes (…) the second half leans into more filmic animations of cavalry charges, tank battles and giant explosions. It’s too busy; it distracts from what’s on stage.’ However, he still gave four stars: ‘The directors throw a lot at Nick Stafford’s script to get it on its legs: Adrian Sutton’s filmic soundtrack, John Tams’s folk songs. Most of it works a treat. And yet, for all that characters note the sentimentality of Albert’s love of Joey while surrounded by copious human suffering, it’s the severed link between a lonely boy and his beloved thoroughbred that still cuts through. Sob. And hooray.’

Critics’ average rating 4.9⭑

Value rating 53 (A combination of average rating and typical ticket price)

War Horse can be seen at the National Theatre until 30 July 2026. Buy tickets directly from the theatre

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