Opening night of the National Theatre’s production of War Horse at the Bristol Hippodrome was above and beyond any expectations I had, and come the end of the show, I was in fits of laughter as well as floods of tears.

Brilliant things had been said about the national tour production, which opened on January 14 in the city, including the life-sized puppets from South Africa’s Tony Award-winning Handspring Puppet Company. The puppets mirrored every action, every noise and every tiny, yet noticeable, feature of Joey the horse, who really was at the heart of the show.

The production is based on Michael Morpurgo’s best-selling novel and tells the story of young Albert and his beloved horse, Joey, who has been requisitioned to fight for the British Army in the First World War.

Caught in the crossfire, Joey overcomes unimaginable obstacles to survive in a truly uplifting story which sees Albert, who is not old enough to enlist, embark on a perilous mission to find his horse and bring him home.

War Horse was made into a movie by Steven Spielberg in 2011 and following its award-winning success, I knew that when the stage show arrived in Bristol it would be a sell-out.

For me, the most heart-warming scenes were earlier on in the play between Albert and Joey. It was lovely to see the family-like bond they created. Like most of the rest of the audience, I jumped out of my skin a few times at the sound of gunfire but that’s what kept it exciting – you didn’t know what was going to happen next.

As the First World War played out on stage, part of me reflected on the centenary of the outbreak of the war.

To quote writer Michael Morpurgo, who was in the audience, the play really did act as an anthem for peace with every single person acting as the army who were championing for the story to end well.

As the curtains fell, the entire cast was met with a standing ovation by people wiping away their tears.

War Horse is a unique experience. If you have been lucky enough to get tickets to this beautiful show, then do take tissues – you will almost certainly need to use them.