I was not one of those little girl who dreamed of horses, but after seeing War Horse at Lincoln Center I might very well become one. The primary enchantment of the production is the life-size horse puppets, made by Handspring Puppet Company, used to depict the title character, Joey, as he is raised on a farm in the English countryside and moves with a cavalry troop through the battles of World War I. Each puppet is managed by three actors: two crouched inside the torso moving its legs, and one standing outside, in front, moving its head and mane. There’s no attempt to camouflage the actors against the dark stage; they’re dressed like farm hands in boots, caps and suspenders, and move about just as freely as the actors portraying the other (far less compelling) human characters. Yet a minute or so after the curtain rises all you see are the horses, which whinny, stomp, rear, and roam around with all the impetuous majesty of real horses. You just don’t care about anything else.
While the production credits the horses as puppets, that word doesn’t feel entirely adequate. They are brought to life (really, they seem alive) by the transparent work of some very skilled actors, yet they’re not as passive, as inert, as conventional puppets are. Instead, in their condensed, calligraphic movements, they summon something like the essence of horse.