War Horse @ The Lowry, Salford, until 20 Sep

Galloping onto The Lowry stage last November, War Horse proved the most successful show in the centre’s 13-year history, obliterating previous box office records by attracting an audience of over 100,000 stunned admirers. But a nine-week run was clearly not sufficient for hungry theatre-goers. War Horse is back.

First produced seven years ago at the National Theatre, Nick Stafford’s careful adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s children’s novel has entranced an international audience, gaining consistent critical acclaim and amassing a reputation akin to Julie Taymor’s The Lion King.

Infiltrating stage, page and screen (Stephen Spielberg’s filmic offering included), the narrative can't be unfamiliar to many: it is 1914, and 16-year-old Albert's beloved horse Joey is sold to the cavalry, finding himself on the battlefields of World War I. It is an admittedly straightforward plot of love and loyalty and thus springs few surprises – and yet two Oliviers and six Tonys demonstrate its intrinsic value as a mesmerising production.

The key to War Horse is its puppetry. In association with the award-winning Handspring Puppet Company, life-sized horses buck, gallop and charge their way across the stage, a mixture of cane, leather, aluminium and Tyvec. With three puppeteers needed to manipulate one horse, the scale and artistry of each puppet makes for transcendent viewing, each equine star as rounded and complex as any of the humans onstage.

A nod must also be directed towards Paule Constable and Rae Smith, with the lighting and simple set design vividly conjuring both the mud of a Devon field and a Somme trench.

Retaining the cast of its earlier run, the production will undoubtedly benefit from its previous experience of The Lowry stage – though how it can triumph further is somewhat unimaginable.