By Jasmine Agnes T. Cruz

Theater
The Horse and His Boy
Presented by Trumpets
Ongoing until Nov. 22
Meralco Theater, Pasig City

WE WEREN’T expecting much when we were invited to the Nov. 5 press preview of Trumpets’ The Horse and His Boy. Knowing it was the fifth book in C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, we just thought it would be a nice entertaining children’s play. But we got more than that. We got what the production promised: an epic ride. It was even reminiscent of Broadway’s War Horse.

Trumpets is very familiar with the world of Narnia, having created the stage version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 1997, which has been restaged several times until 2002. That musical was co-written by Luna Griño-Inocian and Jaime del Mundo, both of whom worked together on The Horse and His Boy — Ms. Griño-Inocian wrote it and Mr. Del Mundo directed.

Mr. Del Mundo wanted to do The Horse and His Boy as a straight play instead of the usual musical that Trumpets is known for, believing that a this would allow the company’s actors to dig deep into feelings instead of continuously breaking out into song. Trumpets President Audie Gemora was a bit skeptical and proposed a compromise: add one song. Thus, the show is largely a straight play with one song that recurs throughout. The recurrent song makes sense though, and so the experiment was successful. “We can ease the audience in with what looks like a musical but is not a musical,” Mr. Del Mundo told BusinessWorld.

The play revolves around an orphan named Shasta (Reb Atadero) who is about to be sold to a nobleman. Shasta feeds the nobleman’s horse while expressing his fears about his bleak future. In a surprising twist, the horse talks to him and tells him that he is Bree (Joel Trinidad), an animal kidnapped from Narnia. Bree and Shasta agree to escape and travel to Narnia where they can be free at last. On their way, they meet Aravis (Cara Barredo), a wealthy maiden running away from a forced marriage. With Aravis is Hwin (Jill Peña), another talking horse of Narnia. The four join forces and together face numerous trials and adventures.

The cast is strong, but the real show stoppers are the horses, which were conceptualized by set and costume designer Mio Infante. While this writer hasn’t seen Broadway’s War Horse, a production lauded for its life-sized puppets of horses, we’ve seen photos of the New York production, and we can say that The Horse and His Boy made us think, “Wow! Is this how it feels like watching War Horse?”

The Horse and His Boy has life-sized horses that move and neigh like real ones, and the scenes where Shasta and Aravis had to ride the horses inspire loud applause. The actors — who are actually sitting on the shoulders of stagehands — look like they are on those horses, riding like the wind. We could hear the gallops, we felt the urgency of their escape, and we believed that epic ride.

For details, call 901-4364 or TicketWorld (891-9999, ticketworld.com.ph.)

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