Martin JagoAnimatronics · Puppets · SFX

War Horse, National Theatre rehearsals

National Theatre, London
August 2007

Martin re-engineered parts of the Joey and Topthorn horse puppets and researched and designed their barding before the London premiere of War Horse in 2007.

Puppets Created by The Handspring Puppet Company

Puppet Development

Reengineering elements of the Joey & Topthorn horses prior to the London premiere in 2007. Research & design of barding for the puppet horses.

Video

War Horse, National Theatre rehearsals poster

Behind the scenes

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  • Two performers sit on stools inside a cane and metal horse puppet frame during rehearsal, operating its legs, with a studio behind them

    Rehearsals

  • Topthorn puppet stands on a black scaffold frame in a rehearsal hall, a cane and metal skeleton horse with a dark leather head and ropes above

    Topthorn in Rehearsal Room

  • Joey puppet close up in a rehearsal room, a pale cane and plywood horse head and neck with a glass eye, cables and a black scaffold pole beside it

    Joey in Rehearsal Room

  • Film frame: three men in flat caps and a woman in a headscarf gather around a young cane horse puppet on a dark stage

    Baby Joey

  • Film frame: Joey puppet pulls a plough across a bare stage while a man in a dark coat stands in the foreground beneath a projected landscape

    Joey Pulls Plough

  • Film frame: a young man in braces holds the head of the cane and leather Joey puppet while another performer works inside its body on a black stage

    Goodbye Joey

  • Film frame: an officer rides the dark Topthorn puppet with a puppeteer beside it while four villagers stand at right, one carrying what looks like a baby prop

    Topthorn and Villagers

  • Film frame: the red brown Joey puppet and dark Topthorn puppet face each other closely in the dark, their cane and leather heads side by side

    Topthorn & Joey

  • Film frame: Joey rears on his hind legs facing the black Topthorn puppet while puppeteers in flat caps and braces work the horses beneath a cloth sky

    Joey & Topthorn Fight

  • Film frame: the dark Topthorn puppet shown in profile as a puppeteer in shadow raises its head by hand against a pale backdrop

    Topthorn Closeup

  • Film frame: Joey puppet rears up beside two huge tank wheels while two performers in caps and work clothes stand below at left

    Joey & Tank

  • Film frame: the Joey puppet kneels and collapses onto the stage with its cane ribs showing while a soldier crouches beside it against a barbed wire backdrop

    Joey Falls

  • Film frame: an officer in a grey coat and a man in dark clothes tend the fallen black Topthorn puppet lying on the stage floor

    Topthorn Falls

  • Poster: the War Horse title in red and yellow beneath soldiers in silhouette marching across a hill at sunset with a horse at left

    Landscape Poster

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