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Since its first appearance on stage in 2007, it has been seen by thousands of people and is currently been produced as a Hollywood film, directed by Steven Spielberg. The London production was showered with awards including Olivier, Evening Standard and London Critics` Circle Theatre Awards, all praising it for its innovative use of puppetry. The play will shortly commence a new run in New York, running simultaneously with the UK production. This new book gives readers a superb overview of the process of making the magnificent puppets which are at the centre of War Horse. War Horse is in fact the third in a trilogy of animal plays devoted to Chimpanzees, Giraffes and Horses which Handspring made between 2000 and 2007.

This book puts War Horse into that context. This book gives you a peek behind the scenes, describing how Tom Morris, director at the National Theatre, interacted with Handspring in developing ideas for the staging of the piece. It also gives a clear account of how the puppets were designed and constructed. Finally it gives a fascinating account of the way the puppeteers were trained to use these complex mechanical animals, taking the reader through workshops, rehearsals and up to the thrilling first performances.