War Horse

This column usually tries to keep my readers up to date on the latest happenings in the real estate world.  However, today, I would like to share a wonderful theatrical experience I had watching War Horse earlier this week which is opening at the Princess of Wales Theatre for a long run.  Like real estate, horses and theatre are part of my passions as well. 

Even for those of you who are not big theatre buffs, War Horse is a unique, enthralling and spectacular theatrical and visual spectacle that should not be missed.  I had originally seen the production by the National Theatre in London, England in November 2007 when I was there on the BILD Housing Tour.

Since then, I have been sending people to New York and London for years to see this production.  Now, everyone in Toronto will have the opportunity to see this amazing story of a boy and his undying love for his horse, and the horrors of World War I.  It is impossible to describe how real the horses that are used on stage are, operated generally by 3 individuals.  They are so lifelike and real that it is beyond comprehension.  The audience feels their emotions, their pain, and their joy through their movements of various parts of their body.

But moreover, the play graphically brings home the senselessness of war and man's inhumanity to man and animal.  World War I saw the useless destruction of millions of horses by machinegun and barbed wire and mechanized warfare.  It created four years of horrific daily living in the trenches by soldiers across the world, and the deaths of millions of soldiers, which ultimately solved nothing, other than sowing the seeds for World War II.

One leaves the theatre uplifted by the story but incensed by the fact that things have not really changed in the world.  Governments use their citizens as cannon fodder to achieve lofty political or economic goals.  Man continues to commit atrocities against man.  The only difference is time and place.

I hope that by experiencing War Horse, people will realize that there must be a better way to solve conflict.  I urge you all to take in this fantastic production.  It is 4 stars from top to bottom.