SHOW PONY: 'Warhorse' takes imagination for a rise

Three puppeteers come onto the stage with a foal puppet, shaky on its newborn legs. Its ears twitch, its tail flicks, its eyes glint in the stark stage lights. For a few moments you watch as three people manipulate cloth, cane and leather, making the puppet canter around the stage.

Then magic happens. You forget about the people working the figure and start to believe completely in the horse. The puppets were created by local creatives Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler of the Handspring Puppet Company.

Warhorse, written by Michael Morpurgo, tells of the atrocities of World War 1 (10 million soldiers and 1 million horses slain on the side of the English) by focusing on the love between a young country boy and the horse his ne'er-do-well father brings home from the market.

So devoted is young Albert to his horse, Joey, that when war comes and the steed is sold into its service, Albert braves the English channel to search for him on the Western Front.

A clever backdrop (a torn piece of paper onto which emotion-provoking images are projected), some thoughtful manipulation of sticks used by the actors to divide the stage, a repeated folk song about going home to Molly punctuating the action, and some dramatic sound and lighting effects bring the stark reality of World War 1 into the theatre, and we are right there in the trenches with the young, scared soldiers.

With every subtle, horsey movement, each snort and frantic gallop (wonderfully achieved by having the backdrop move while the horses run on the spot), the illusion becomes more convincing.

While the play dramatically conveys the horrors of war, what is most impressive about it is the conveyance of love and empathy between man and animal.

This is achieved through the masterly horse puppets, their handlers and the excellent acting of the rest of the cast.