THE National Theatre's phenomenally successful and multi-award winning show made its eagerly anticipated bow at Cardiff Bay last night and what a crowd pleaser it proved to be.

Far darker and more intense than Steven Spielberg's insipid 2011 film version, this production effectively transmits the horrors of the First World War, from the senseless carnage of the suicidal cavalry charges of the summer of 1914 to the equally meaningless slaughter of the trench warfare that soon followed for four long years.

Based on former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo's popular, if hardly subtle book (Private Peaceful is his far superior work about the Great War), it stays fairly faithful to the odyssey undertaken by Devon farmer's son Albert and his faithful steed Joey.

The performances by the eager cast are fine but it's sometimes hard not to supress a smile at the outrageous 'Cherman' accents of the enemy and 'Allo 'Allo-style brogues of the French characters.

But the real stars of the show are the remarkable 'horses' from the Handspring Puppet Company and their tireless operators.

The effects and lighting are excellent too with loud bangs from guns and artillery making more than one audience member jump out of their seats.

A tear-jerker for some, the show was rapturously received by the majority of the happy audience, many who gave it a standing ovation.

War Horse runs at Cardiff's Wales Millennium Centre until July 19.