A brilliant show which is set to carry on resonating

ALMOST a million horses were sent from Britain to France during World War One, and only 62,000 were to return from the horrors of the battlefield during those years.

- ANDY PHILLIPS

It was a number not dissimilar to the number of men who went but never returned.

Yet in a war that was fought – on both sides – by men who had been sent by other men, the fate of those horses now seems a poignant story of the costs of conflict.

It was a story in a Devon pub told by a veteran of the so-called Great War which prompted Michael Morpurgo to write War Horse, a 1982 book released to little fanfare and which garnered few sales.

It was only when the tale of Joey, the eponymous hero, and his journey with farm lad Albert Narracott, was turned into a theatre show that it began to gain traction. It became the most successful play in the history of the National Theatre, winning more than 25 major awards, and has been seen by more than 8.3 million people worldwide.