'War Horse,' at Lincoln Center

The leading actor in War Horse, the latest offering at Lincoln Center, is a puppet. But it’s not like any puppert you’ve seen before. This puppet stands over 7 feet tall and is manned by two performers inside and one outside, in a play about World War I, the war to end all wars.

Based upon the children’s book by Michael Morpurgo, War Horse is theater for adults. Morpurgo’s intent was to show the story through the eyes of the horse, and here the horses steal the show. So, even the Playbill lists the horses above the actors. The themes, however, are serious: The ravages caused by war on both man and animal and the frailty of relationships, particularly between father and son.

Set in Great Britain against the background of World War I, the central characters are Albert Narracott (a fine Seth Numrich) and Joey, the half- draught, half thoroughbred horse he raised, trained and loves. Although Albert’s father promises the horse to his young son, he sneaks off and sells the animal to the Army for money. Lying about his age, 16 year-old Albert joins the Army to find his horse. He’s sent to France and participates in the Somme offensive. Young Albert is a child braving a grownup world, one wracked by bullets and death.

In War Horse, ‘puppeteers’ who work within and alongside them skillfully and almost magically animate the horses. Despite a semi-opaque leather covering and the obvious presence of the ‘trainers‘ inside them, Joey and Topthorn, a majestic black thoroughbred, are almost lifelike. They breathe, whinny and stretch, rear up on their hind legs, paw the ground, stretch their necks, and are in constant motion. No matter who is speaking, the audience always finds itself watching the horses onstage.

Horses are killed and men die in the battles, but it’s all depicted through sound, slow-motion and lights (red lights on a jagged piece of screen above turning into red roses.)

Friedrich, a German infantryman who saves the horses by getting them to pull the ambulances, is asked how he can care about horses when so many of his comrades have died. But we understand ... and feel saddened when Topthorn and other horses die.