On
Saturday night, I was lucky enough to be at Scone Palace near Perth to see the
Peel Heritage’s open air theatre production of Black Beauty. Directed by
James Stone, this is Beauty’s first canter into theatre although the original
novel by Anna Sewell was published in 1877!
For
us, it was a beautiful evening and we settled our camping chairs in front of a
small wooden stage set with the Palace as the backdrop. We enjoyed a wonderful picnic and the sun was
shining. We walked through the grounds
to the chapel, catching a glimpse of Perth racecourse through the trees and the
show began.
The
story is told through stallion Black Beauty's eyes. The actor playing Beauty
(Simeon John-Wake) was wearing a metal horse’s head-shaped cage over his own head
and attached to his body by a harness. The metal head had Black Beauty’s
recognisable star on it and his reins attached. The horse’s heads were designed
by Hayley Neil. As Beauty began to tell his story, for the first 10 seconds, I
wasn't sure I was really going to get this.
I adore the story of Black Beauty because of everything it stands
for. Having spent many years perfecting
moving like a horse, when I was a child, I wasn't quite sure this was going to
live up to my expectations. However, within
30 seconds, I was hooked. I soon forgot that I was standing in the grounds of
Scone Palace, and I was transported back in time with Beauty as his life began.
Anna
Sewell wrote Black Beauty, not
originally as a children's book but to highlight the plea of workhorses and to
'induce kindness, sympathy and an understanding treatment of horses'. The book
was groundbreaking in its time and later on, copies were distributed free by
welfare charities to horse owners, yards and studs all over the country.
Peel
Heritage’s production did not use many props - mainly the cages worn by the
actors playing the horses, boards as a stage with the actors feet making the
sound of the horses hoofs, a couple of straw bales, a stirrup iron and leather,
an apple and a bucket containing a bran mash.
However, as we walked back to our chairs at the main stage and the play
continued, I did not notice anything going on around and became completely
absorbed in Beauty. Not even the shouting peacocks in the Palace grounds could
distract me.
As
always, it would not be possible to fit every event of the book into the play,
but the playwright managed to capture the complete essence and meaning of the
story. The physical and mental pain
suffered by the horses, being passed from owner to owner and facing brutality
and cruelness, the highlighting of the use of the bearing rein and the
suffering it caused and when treated with fairness and kindness how a horse
would lay down his life for his 'master'.
Throughout
the story, Beauty remains himself. He begins his story as a young colt full of
the optimism of life. He has no
understanding of why anyone would wish to cause him pain. His stable mate,
Ginger, on the other hand is wise to the world and she has became very bitter
and angry towards people due to the treatment she has received over the years.
Despite everything, Beauty continues to remain optimistic, he tries his best
for every owner and even when he begins his life as a workhorse he is proud and
happy to work for a good master. Eventually he becomes defeated, he experiences
grief, physical pain and towards the end he switches off, as he almost feels
nothing any more. I have encountered numbers of horses over the years, who have
either became aggressive and angry as a result of mistreatment or the opposite
end of the scale, the ones who become completely introverted and switched off
to everything going on around them.
There
are a number of lighthearted comical moments in the play, some involving Ginger
who is played by the actress Nicki Willetts as a hot headed red head with a very
strong Liverpudlian accent. Plenty of villains too but for me, one of the most
powerful scenes is where Beauty is pulling a London cab and the driver has to
continually tighten the bearing rein to lift Beauty's head carriage. Beauty's description of the burning pain he is feeling as it
travels from his legs to his shoulders to his back is heart breaking. It
reached the point where I wanted to run from my seat and tear the bearing rein
from him just to allow him to stretch his neck.
The
play did evoke many emotions and it also emphasised the relationship that can
exist between a horse and owner, based on kindness and trust, and how forgiving
horses can be.
The
story highlights the welfare issues, not only for horses but for all animals at
the hands of humans. Unfortunately it is still something we see today, horses
being forced into outlines, gadgets used to position their heads and necks, horses
passed from owner to owner when they are no longer suited to one person's
purpose.
