Whinnying ways: War Horse on stage

Host Neil Patrick Harris rides a puppet from War Horse on stage during the 2011 Tony Awards Photograph: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

War Horse is the latest production for over-12s at the National, following the theatre's sucess with Coram Boy and the epic adaptation of His Dark Materials. Photograph: Simon Annand

Published in 1982, Michael Morpurgo's novel is told straight from the horse's mouth - its hero is a stallion. Photograph: Simon Annand

In Morpurgo's story, a young boy named Albert (played by Luke Treadaway, far-right) is given a horse by his father. Photograph: Simon Annand

But the gift has a dark history: Albert's father (Toby Sedgwick, right) bought the horse at auction for an inflated price after being goaded into it by his brother-in-law (Alan Williams). Photograph: Simon Annand

Even so, Albert christens him Joey and the two quickly become bosom buddies. Photograph: Simon Annand

Albert and his mother (Thusitha Jayasundera) agree a pact: Joey can stay if Albert can train him for farm work. Photograph: Simon Annand

Despite being a hunting horse and part-throroughbred, Joey does his utmost and eventually succeeds in pulling a plough - a skill that will prove invaluable later in the play. Photograph: Simon Annand

But all is not well in the world outside rural Devon. War has been declared against Germany, and local officers begin a recruitment drive among the yeomanry. Photograph: Simon Annand

And not just for human soldiers: Joey, seen here with Ned Warren (Ashley Taylor-Rhys), is being eyed up by the military. Photograph: Simon Annand

Unable to resist the offer of cold, hard cash, Albert's father agrees to sell Joey to the local regiment, under the command of Captain Nicholls (Jamie Ballard, left). Photograph: Simon Annand

Albert is heartbroken, but promises to join up as soon as he's old enough. Photograph: Simon Annand/Simon Annand

The cavalry troop off to war, among them Topthorn, the horse who will become one of Joey's comrades-in-arms. Photograph: Graeme Robertson

But, in an age of machine guns, tanks and mechanised warfare, the mounted regiments prove hopelessly outgunned. Many of the English officers are killed, not to mention their horses. Photograph: Graeme Robertson

Joey and Topthorn are captured by the Germans, but the kindly officer Friedrich (Angus Wright, left) takes the pair under his wing and does his best to keep them out of harm's way. Photograph: Simon Annand

Seized by a sudden impulse, Friedrich exchanges his commander's uniform for the garb of an ambulance orderly in order to guide the horses away from the carnage. Photograph: Simon Annand

But events intervene, and Joey ends up wandering alone through the barbed wire and mud of no-man's-land. Photograph: Simon Annand

Will he and Albert survive? Will they ever be reunited? Photograph: Graeme Robertson