WAR HORSE Sells Out Birmingham Hippodrome Run

On Wednesday 16 October the first ever UK tour of the National Theatre's War Horse officially opened at Birmingham Hippodrome. Four weeks and 31 performances later, the award-winning production has now been seen by just under 56,000 people playing to complete sell-out houses at every performance.

Producer at the National Theatre, Chris Harper who was born in Stourbridge and started his career at Birmingham Hippodrome said, "It was a dream come true to bring this production to my home theatre and it felt right that we opened the tour here. We are now already looking forward to heading back to Birmingham Hippodrome with another National Theatre hit, One Man, Two Guvnors in May next year"

Pertemps has been the generous business supporter of the sell-out run of War Horse at Birmingham Hippodrome. Tim Watts, Chairman of Pertemps Network Group said "Like Pertemps, the Hippodrome has a fantastic reputation throughout the West Midlands and, indeed, the rest of the country, so it has been a privilege to support them on this particular production. The show has been running at the same time as we launched the Pertemps new brand so, from a business perspective, it has been a very rewarding relationship."

War Horse tells the powerful story of a young boy called Albert and his beloved horse, Joey, who has been requisitioned to fight for the English in World War I. Caught in enemy crossfire, Joey ends up serving on both sides during the war before landing in no man's land, while Albert, not old enough to enlist, embarks on a treacherous mission to find his horse and bring him home. A remarkable tale of courage, loyalty and friendship, War Horse features ground-breaking puppetry work by South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company, which brings breathing and galloping horses to life on stage.

Now in its sixth year in London's West End, War Horse consistently attracts sell-out houses at the New London Theatre. A German language production entitled Gefährten opened in October 2013 at the historic Theater des Westens in Berlin. A North American production continues to tour throughout 2013 and 2014. The Broadway production of War Horse, which completed its run at the Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater earlier this year, was the winner of six Tony Awards including a Special Tony Award for Handspring Puppet Company. A tour with an all-Australian cast recently completed its run in Brisbane at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC.

Midlands audiences unable to secure a ticket for the sell-out season will have the opportunity to see War Horse in a local cinema when it will be screened for the first time for NT live on 27 February 2014. The UK tour continues through 2014 with performances at Salford's Lowry, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Southampton Mayflower, Dublin Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Sunderland Empire, Bradford Alhambra and at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff.

War Horse is based on a novel by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford and presented in association with Handspring Puppet Company. Directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, it is designed by Rae Smith who lived in Shropshire from age 11, lighting is by Paule Constable and movement and horse choreography by Toby Sedgwick. The puppetry directors are Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, with video design by 59 Productions Ltd, song-making by John Tams, music by Adrian Sutton and sound by Christopher Shutt.

Michael Morpurgo has written over 100 books and was Children's Laureate from 2003 - 05. A feature film of War Horse, based on his 1982 novel and directed by Stephen Spielberg, was nominated for six Academy Awards in 2011.

Photo by Ellie Kurttz

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