'War Horse' Puppeteers Pull the Strings of Tony Award-Winning Play

So before you became Joey the puppet, what was your favorite puppet of all time?

I think I would have to say animal, because he's always like, "I'm gonna do what I want to do." But I like it.

[Horse whinnying] What's up guys? Leslie Robbins here. Young Hollywood is once again at the Ahmanson Theater in downtown LA. We are going backstage at the five-time Tony Award-winning show, War Horse. [Music] Let's show Joey to the army. I, Albert Narracott, do solemnly swear that we shall be together again. Gentlemen, you three make up one horse. Can you explain that to our audience who hasn't seen the show yet?

Well, what's great is that all three of us, we make up an entire horse, a life-size horse, but it's actually a puppet. And so because of the the size of that horse, one puppeteer has to control the head, Chris, and Derrick controls the heart. And Rob, me, controls the hind.

I have to say, I left the show and I walked out and I said, "Joey!" Is that the reaction you're getting from the show?

A lot of reaction in the show is there's laughing, there's crying, then there's more laughing and more crying. And then being scared and being frightened and really relating to not just humans, but also to animals. So it really pulls you in and really plucks your heartstrings to to be cliche about it. It's a big story about courage and friendship and loyalty. And so all of the emotions tied with those all present in this play, and it's it's really, it's really amazing. I actually have to say, as much as I love Joey, I think the goose steals the show. Second guest: She does. Uh, Goosey, she actually wants it to be War Goose instead of War Horse. So.

Tell me about your path to getting in War Horse.

Basically, what they do at the audition is they just put us in the horse. And we were all beginners. Even if you have puppeteering experience, no one's ever done a puppet like this before. It's like putting on a different person. We all come from really eclectic backgrounds. So we all sort of have this individual voice that adds to the whole of this character. It's different every time you do it, and we try to get to that place where we know that we're communicating as one.

So is the show choreographed down to a tee?

The majority of it is actually uh, quite improvised. We have quite a lot of freedom with Joey, emotion-wise and uh, physically. But once the horse actually interacts with humans or interacts with other horses, all of that is actually choreographed down to the tee. We had this sort of two-week puppet workshop before um, the whole cast came in. It was just the puppeteers. Handspring company came in. We got to work with them, you know, and it was amazing and they they wanted us to be really true to the horse and the behaviors of the horse.

Talk about the puppet company.

Handspring Public Company from South Africa. Um, Adrian and and Basil. It's so wonderful being in this business and being able to learn from and work with two geniuses that are also wonderful people and patient people and giving people.

Tell me about tour life.

We're here until July 30th. Yes. Um at the Ahmanson. 29th, sorry. Um and then we actually leave LA on the 30th, and then we actually go to San Francisco next. Going from city to city and seeing how the different audiences respond to a story is is a beautiful thing. You have to really streamline on your outfits. I mean, you know, you have to figure out what shoes. It's such a new experience as as as audiences go, they've never seen anything like this before. And I will say as far as audience reactions go, LA's been terrific. I mean. Hello. I just want to put it out there. Audience really give him, they really give him back a lot. Thank you LA, you're awesome. One thing about live theater and I'll just put this plug out there is when you go to watch live theater, you get to affect what's happening on stage in such a wonderful and beautiful way. And so, when we're presenting something and we're feeling it back from the audience, it just ups our emotions even more. It's just so rewarding.

And you're in amazing shape. I mean, I love asking actors and dancers what their regimen is because I think we all have different needs, like because of the different demands of each position.

Uh, the hind, uh you need strong legs. Um and you need to have a really strong core. And the heart, uh when we rear up, we lift the cage up. Uh there's a lot of upper body and shoulder. And then to make the legs move, it's a lot of wrist and forearm. Um, by the end of this tour, I'm pretty sure that I will look like Popeye by the end of the tour. Second guest: A lot of it is in within the hands for the ears, for the control of the ear, and also um, shoulders for the height of the horse, because of how high the head has to be for certain scenes and sometimes my arm is fully extended all the way up the entire show.

I'm kind of bummed though. I thought maybe you had a mini bar going on in- inside Joey. I was like, I could put my laptop up here, check my email. Then I realized and getting into the show, I'm like, there's no time to check the email, there's no time for a bar, just go. Just go. Run.

So before you became Joey the puppet, what was your favorite puppet of all time? Second guest: I'm gonna have to say Janice from The Muppets. Janice.

Wait, can you do that again? Second guest: Yeah, I don't have any hair, so. Jealous of Janice.

I was always a big fan of Oscar the Grouch. You know, he he's he's got a got a tough shell but I think he's really good deep down. Second guest: I think I would have to say animal, because he's always like, "I'm gonna do what I want to do." But I like it.

[Horse whinnying] You must teach me how to whinny. What's the definition of whinny? Because when I first heard the term whinny, I said, "What that mean?" So tell me what a whinny is and then we'll break it down.

Horses make incredible sounds. Strange. They're almost like aliens sometimes. So, uh, a whinny is just one of the sounds that a horse makes. We make it with three of us. It's like a song. It's music. It's like harmonizing. In a different way.

Okay, can you let me let me hear a bit?

[Whinnying]

Do it again. Do it again.

[Whinnying]

I don't want to learn that. Okay.

[Whinnying]

We are Joey the War Horse, and you're watching Young Hollywood.

[Whinnying]