Review: Farm Boy

© Carol Rosegg

In what surely must be purely coincidental timing, Farm Boy has arrived for a holiday engagement at 59E59 Theaters. Michael Morpungo’s “sequel” to his War Horse has opened just as Steven Spielberg’s big-budget film adaptation hits theaters, and while the Lincoln Center production is still attracting record crowds. Unfortunately, this slight, two-character chamber piece registers less as a sequel than a footnote. Audiences expecting to see more of the equine hero Joey will be sorely disappointed.

 

Admittedly, this 65-minute one-act adapted and directed by Daniel Buckroyd which successfully toured the U.K. has its charms. Performed on a stage dominated by a rusty old life-sized tractor, it concerns an elderly farmer (John Walters) and his young grandson (Richard Pryal).

 

The grandfather, it turns out, is the son of Albert, the young man who figured so prominently in War Horse. After a perfunctory rehashing of the events of that earlier work, this play’s main plot element involves a plowing contest between Albert and Joey and a tractor, with the latter as the prize. That we’ve spent nearly an hour staring at the object in question leaves little doubt as to the outcome.

 

Otherwise, the homespun dialogue touches on such issues as the death years earlier of the grandfather’s wife and his never having learned to read or write. Underscoring the proceedings is a suitably gentle piano score composed by Matt Marks.

 

It’s all very innocuous, although it’s hard to tell who the show is geared for since it seems too elevated for children and too mild for adults. There’s no denying the heartfelt sincerity of the piece or the effectiveness of the performances, especially Walter’s physically fragile but talkative grandpa. But it’s hard not to miss Joey, who, let’s face it, is the heart and soul of War Horse.

59E59 Theaters, 59 E.59th St.212-279-4200. www.59e509.org.