Basil Jones News

As 2014 speeds along to its final curtain, it is once again time to reflect on some of the theatrical highlights on South Africa's stages over the past 12 months. First up, we have six of the best plays seen in theatres around the country this year.

WAR HORSE has finally made its way onto South African stages, currently in the second and final leg of its national tour. As many a headline has declared since the local tour was announced: Joey has come home.

The global theatre phenomenon, WAR HORSE will be making its South African premiere later this year, beginning with a season at The Teatro at Montecasino in Johannesburg in October before transferring to the Artscape Opera House in Cape Town in December.

Yesterday (Sunday 19 October 2014), best-selling author Michael Morpurgo was joined by Joey, the life-size horse puppet and star of the National Theatre's production of War Horse visiting the poppies installation at the Tower of London. Joey walked amongst the poppies and Michael Morpurgo planted a poppy and then returned to read the Roll of Honour. The puppeteers were Sam Clark (Joey Head), Robin Guiver (Joey Heart) and Derek Arnold (Joey Hind). Scroll down for photos!

Today 20 September 2014 at 2pm the National Theatre's internationally acclaimed award-winning stage production of Michael Morpurgo's War Horse will hold a relaxed performance at the New London Theatre in association with The National Autistic Society (NAS), the UK's leading charity for people with autism and their families.

First Niagara Bank and The Ridgefield Playhouse will present the 9th Annual community event -- Shakespeare on the Green and Green Expo -- today, August 9. The 'how to live green' fair runs from 12 noon to 4 p.m.

The Lightbox gallery and museum in Woking, Surrey, will commemorate the centenary of World War One with the exhibition 'The Horse at War: 1914 - 1918' (25 November 2014 - 1 March 2015). Exploring the role of the horse in World War One, the exhibition will compare the glorified image of Officers and their chargers at War with the piteous desolation of these animals as beasts of burden when faced with gunfire and trench warfare.

First Niagara Bank and The Ridgefield Playhouse will present the 9th Annual community event -- Shakespeare on the Green and Green Expo -- on Saturday, August 9. The "how to live green" fair runs from 12 noon to 4 p.m. with Shakespeare's "Two Gentlemen of Verona" taking place under a tent for a seated audience at 2 p.m., all on the green at The Ridgefield Playhouse.

On Saturday 20 September 2014 at 2pm the National Theatre's internationally acclaimed award-winning stage production of Michael Morpurgo's War Horse will hold a relaxed performance at the New London Theatre in association with The National Autistic Society (NAS), the UK's leading charity for people with autism and their families.

This week Nashville is gifted the chance to see War Horse at Tennessee Performing Arts Center. It isn't often that a person can say that a horse is the main character of a play, but that's just what War Horse gives you. Set in World War 1 era England, War Horse explores the relationship between a horse and his boy. When the horse, Joey, is sold to the war effort, his owner Albert can't bare to be apart from him and runs away, lies about his age, and joins the military.

On the heels of Memorial Day, Broadway Across America - Houston is presenting the First US National Tour of the acclaimed play WAR HORSE. The visually spectacular production first premiered on London's Off-West End in the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre. It transferred to the West End's New London Theatre, where it is still running. It enjoyed Broadway success at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at New York City's Lincoln Center. It has since been produced in Canada, Australia, and Germany. After seeing this tour, it is no surprise that everywhere the play goes, it leaves tear-soaked audiences speechless and amazed.

In just a couple of weeks, Broadway Across America will be bringing in the First National Tour of the five-time Tony award winning production of WAR HORSE, a play adapted by Nick Stafford in association with Handspring Puppet Company that is based on the Michael Murporgo book of the same title. Set against the backdrop of World War One, this production tells the imaginative and emotional tale of a farm boy named Albert and his love for his horse, Joey. With breathtaking life-size puppets, stirring music, and storytelling at its finest, the First National Tour of WAR HORSE is sure to be an unforgettable theatergoing experience for Houston audiences. I was lucky enough to catch up with Nick LaMedica, a puppeteer for this production, who took some time out of his busy schedule to give Houston audiences an inside look at all of the rigorous training it takes to bring the horse to life onstage and to let us know why we don't want to miss WAR HORSE.

Set in early 1900s Europe at the onset of World War I in a town called Devon, England, WAR HORSE takes us on a journey with a boy named Albert and his friendship with his horse Joey. A play about a boy and a horse sounds simple enough, right? But how do you control a horse on stage?

Based on the best-selling 1982 novel by Michael Morpurgo and set in both rural Devon, England and war-torn France during World War I, War Horse is truly a perfect marriage of art, music, choreography and storytelling.

The national tour of WAR HORSE, currently playing the Capitol Theatre, is moving and at once epic and intimate. It is deeply theatrical in its simple, cerebral staging, but it is also spectacular in its groundbreaking puppeteering and its effective, restrained use of projections and lighting effects.

The global theatre phenomenon, WAR HORSE will be making its South African premiere later this year, beginning with a season at The Teatro at Montecasino in Johannesburg in October before transferring to the Artscape Opera House in Cape Town in December.

With the smooth style and graceful stride of a thoroughbred, Warhorse pranced onto the stage of the Music Hall in Kansas City on Tuesday April 1. From the Broadway Across America series Warhorse is based on a book by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford, and in association with Handspring Puppet Company.

The National Theatre's internationally acclaimed stage production of War Horse recently extended booking at the New London Theatre to 14 February 2015.Now celebrating its seventh year on the London stage, Nick Stafford's adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's book continues to play to sell-out houses in the West End. War Horse, which has now been seen by over 5 million people worldwide, was broadcast live for the first time in February this year part of National Theatre Live.

Amphibian Stage Productions (Kathleen Culebro, Artistic Director) in association with the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (Marla Price, Director) announces that The National Theatre's multi-award-winning production of War Horse, seen by over 4 million people worldwide since its premiere at the National Theatre in 2007, will be broadcast from its home at the New London Theatre in the West End on Wednesday & Thursday, April 2 & 3 at 2PM & 7PM, 2014 at the Modern Art Museum as part of National Theatre Live.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will host 22 theatrical offerings from 20 different countries during WORLD STAGES: International Theater Festival 2014 that will run for three weeks March 10-30, 2014 throughout the Center. The international festival features contemporary theater works offering 13 fully staged productions, 4 theater-focused installations, 3 readings of new works, and 2 forums. From Olivier and Tony Award-winning puppetry to innovative perspectives on old classics, a diverse showcase of theatrical expression will be represented by countries spanning the globe including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, England, France, Iceland, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Pakistan, Palestine, Scotland, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, and the United States.