Lauren Mooney interviews Simon Harvey, Artistic Director of O-Region, and Writer, Director and Co-Adaptor for White Horse

Tell me about White Horse

White Horse is an adaptation of the Michael Morpurgo novel ‘The White Horse of Zennor and Other Stories’, set in the modern day. I’ve created an estranged father based in Zennor, and the daughter is in London. They haven’t seen each other for years, but she ends up spending the summer in Zennor. As part of her trip, she hears these various stories, which is what the show’s about. 

What inspired the play?

I read the Morpurgo novel in 2018/19, which is broken up into five stories. The first story is called The Giant’s Necklace. I’m involved with the Youth Theatre at Hall for Cornwall, and we devised a piece around that. They were very young, but the kids just absolutely loved the story. 

I just thought there’s something brilliant here. I also wanted to do something that was suitable for a family audience. I thought that was important. I got the rights in 2019, but the pandemic hit. 

This isn’t the first time you’ve worked with Michael Morpurgo? 

I was lucky enough to be the Associate Director on a show called ‘946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips’, with Kneehigh. Michael was quite involved for that adaptation, so he used to come to rehearsals a lot, so I met him around then. So that was in the back of my head when I was adapting this. 

What do you want people to take away from the show? 

In the show a character says, “Zennor will reveal itself to you bit by bit, if you give it time” – this show is a bit like that. There’s laughs but it gets more moving. I kind of want people to laugh and I want them to cry at some moments and just have  great night out. 

What was your favourite moment from the rehearsal process? 

I am really  pleased with the group of people that we pulled together. The cast is fantastic, and the creative team. Everyone was excited by it. Rehearsals were really joyful. We just did a lot of laughing – that was great. 

What’s next for White Horse? 

The plan has always been that this show will tour outside of Cornwall. So, we’re in the process of putting together a tour, which if all goes well, will be the end of 2026. 

…and for O-Region? 

We are also hopefully retouring ‘Nadelik, our family Christmas show. We want to extend our From the Horse’s Mouth programme, and we are even in the process of a feature film. 

How can people support O-Region? 

It’s signing up to our socials, comments on the show from people that have seen it, and staying engaged with the work we make. It’s getting the word out there. In extreme cases, letters of support are super useful when applying for funding, and proving there’s a need for our work.