PLAYING the Songman in the National Theatre’s award-winning production of War Horse is a very different beast for Durham folk singer Bob Fox. Or as he puts it, “I have to do the same thing every night. When I do solo things, I do what I choose, so going into War Horse was something different for me.”

Fox was in the London West End cast for 18 months and has now returned in the touring production that reaches Sunderland Empire next week.

Before War Horse, Fox was more likely to be found on his own with just a guitar and a repertoire of folk songs.

That’s taken him all over the UK, Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

The stage version of War Horse, based on Michael Morpurgo’s novel, tells the story of a young Albert and his beloved horse against the background of the First World War and featuring extraordinarily-lifelike puppets as the horses.

His involvement in the production came about through an old friend, John Tamms, who wrote the songs for the show. They’d worked together before. “He came to one of my gigs one night and said, ‘Can you play the accordion?’ and I said, ‘No, why?’,” recalls Fox. “He said, ‘There’s something coming up that’s exactly up your street and I’d love to see you in the role’.”

Now, Fox also has to play the melodeon, a type of button accordion that he hadn’t played before. “So I had to learn that after spending most of my life taking the mickey out of people who play it. It had different buttons to an accordion that you push or pull,” he says.

“It was strange when I got into rehearsals because I’m used to standing up on stage with a guitar. In this, I have to walk across the stage – and in London, it was a very big stage.”

Fox’s Songman guides the audience though the story.

“The character is a sort of spirit of the Devon village where the story is set, “ he explains.

“He knows the story, how it’s going to unfold and going to end. My job is to appear every time they need to move the action or indicate the passage of time.

“There’s a fantastic orchestral score. John has taken a lot of folksy themes in his music and there’s also a bit of brass band.”

Fox has been a folk singer for four decades and doesn’t consider the stage role as unusual “because basically it’s what I do – I stand up and sing songs”, he says.

“The brilliant bit is the whole production that takes in rural Devon, the battlefields of France and then back to Devon. The whole story is like one song that I’d sing.

“The thing that keeps it fresh is working with 34 or 35 other brilliant performers. People who are fantastic at what they do. The puppeteers are one of many things about the production that are so impressive to the audience.

Walking out afterwards and mingling with the crowd, you hear them say the same thing – how fantastic the horses are, how they breathe and move.”

He’s been playing to a wide variety of audiences, from cosmopolitan ones in London to those in Devon with a special connection to the story. He’s looking forward to the Sunderland date because it means he can live at home during the three-week run.

Fox is still surprised to find himself performing in a West End show. “A friend of mine, who I was at school with years ago, sent me a photo of me in one of the Gilbert & Sullivan school productions. I always got a principal part because I was a good singer. That was probably in 1965 or 1966 and here is 2014 and I’ve been on the West End stage and a UK tour – and in between I’ve been a solo performer.”

Not that he’s given up his solo career for good. During a week’s break in the tour, he took the opportunity to do some solo gigs with just him and a guitar – and not a horse in sight.

WHEN Stockton actor Simeon Truby got a call from his agent about appearing in the touring production of War Horse, he had to admit that he hadn’t seen the show. “But I had a lot of friends I’d worked with who’d been part of it, some from the early days of creating the show. And I’d worked with the director Marianne Elliott previously,” he says.

Truby has done big shows before, including Sweeney Todd in the West End. “These things are on a grand scale,” he says. “That’s the amazing thing about War Horse – it’s rare to go out every night and play to 2,000 people. It’s chock-a-block and not an empty seat in the house. That’s quite an incredible feat in itself and down to the power of the play.”

He plays two roles on opposite sides of the conflict, a British army sergeant and a German soldier. An actormusician, Truby’s also under studying the role of Songman.

During York Theatre Royal’s summer season, a few years back, he was part of the ensemble appearing in a series of plays that included Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.

His actress wife, Helen Kay, was also part of the company. While he’s been touring in War Horse, she’s been part of the tour of the revival of Brassed Off, that started out from the York venue.

Truby’s family still lives in Teesside, although he’s now based in Manchester where he and his wife run a theatre school.

“I’ve been incredibly lucky in my career. I’ve managed to work very regularly and in a real mix of work, from big musicals to small two-hander plays to actor-musician shows. That’s always what I’ve wanted to do,” he says.

  • War Horse: Sunderland Empire, Wednesday to Saturday, May 17. Box office: 0844-8713022 and atgtickets.com/sunderland