‘War Horse’ Set to Launch UK, Ireland Tour

“War Horse” may be closing soon on Broadway, but The National Theatre is gearing up for a ten month tour of the production in the U.K. and Ireland for next year.

The Tony Award-winning production will visit eight venues during the tour, and will not replace the successful West End version of the show. The first stop on the tour will be at Plymouth’s Theatre Royal in Devon on September 27, and the tour is scheduled to continue through July 2014. The trek also will visit Birmingham Hippodrome, The Lowry in Salford Quays, the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin, Sunderland Empire, the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford and the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff.

“We are delighted that our production of ‘War Horse’ will soon be touring the U.K. and Ireland and we are particularly thrilled that the tour opens in Devon, where the play is set,” said Chris Harper, who is the producer of The National Theatre.

The tour comes five years after the production premiered at the National Theatre back in 2007, and this will be the first time the production has been performed in the U.K. outside of London. Artistic Director of the West End production, Nicholas Hytner, announced recently that the London version of the show has been seen by 600,000 people during the past 18 months.

“‘War Horse’ is without a doubt one of the theatrical masterpieces of recent years, and will be a major highlight of our 2013 season,” said Stuart Griffiths, Chief Executive of Birmingham Hippodrome. “We are particularly pleased to be able to bring such a prestigious production to Birmingham in partnership with Pertemps who are kindly supporting our Stage Appeal with their generous financial support.”

“This has been one of the most talked about theatre production of recent times, and will be a truly exciting and popular event of the year,” said Tim Watts, chairman of the Pertemps Network Group.