A good weekend part I

[sollers]

Last winter I discovered that War Horse was coming to the Lowry. To my great disappointment I wasn't able to organise tickets. The disappointment continued for a few months, until I discovered that it had been so popular that the Lowry was putting it on again, after a startlingly short time, for a further run this summer. I moved fast this time, and got tickets.

I thought getting there was going to be easy: get on the Metrolink, go straight through to Salford then one stop up the branch line to MediaCity.

Unfortunately, there were Works going on. So on getting to our stop, I discovered we would have to go in to central Manchester, change to another line for a few stops then take a replacement bus. No way would that get us there in time, so we went into central Manchester and took a cab.

It was worth it. The production was staggering, and I kept on forgetting that the horses were not real. I greatly enjoyed the use of folk songs, most of which I knew - though the one I kept on humming when I came out wasn't one of them: "Home, Boys, Home" which is very much to the point. I have to say I'm glad I found out that my grandfather was involved with railways rather than horses.

An excellent experience. I've got the book on my Kindle but it will take some effort to read it. Under no circumstances am I going to watch the film.

ETA A disconcerting thing happened this morning. I was sorting papers and came across what must have been my grandfather's last letter to my grandmother, in January 1919. By the end of the month he was dead of the Spanish Flu. I haven't read it yet.

Comments

[gwendraith]

I saw War Horse in London and was staggered at how good it was, just a brilliant production. Every animal was lifelike even the geese!

[sollers]

OMG, the goose!!

[fyrdrakken]

Saw the movie (it was on cable and hence cost me nothing but time) and was not greatly thrilled by it -- haven't bothered to acquire the book, though it's something like $5 on Kindle right now. But if a different adaptation of it was really good, perhaps I'll give the book a chance after all. (My usual policy is to see the movie first, on the grounds that I'm more likely to enjoy both versions if I'm not sitting there watching the movie comparing it to the original text.) Don't think I'm going to be anywhere near a live production anytime soon.

[sollers]

The play came four years before the film, which I understand is a filmed version of it. The key thing in the play is the puppets, which are not only awesome but produce a distancing effect - watching the simulated death on screen of real horses would be much more disturbing for me than watching the puppeteers retreat slowly off stage. The play is a full-on theatrical experience; I've never been in a cinema where the bangs are as loud and shocking as real bangs, and the singing is more in place on stage than on screen.

It's like the difference in experience that I had with the stage version of "Evita" and the film version (whose chief redeeming feature was the presence of Antonio Banderas)