CULTURE • THEATRE
ABSOLUTELY reviews…
PETER SHAFFER’S
EQUUS A strikingly visceral production at Trafalgar Studios By PENDLE HARTE
T
his impressive production of Peter Shaffer’s intense drama is stark, physical and visceral. With its empty stage, atmospheric lighting and emotional performances, this is a strange and hardhitting drama that first premiered in 1973 yet still feels contemporary. Inspired by a true story, Equus sets out to explore the complex relationships between devotion, myth and sexuality. When teenager Alan Strang’s pathological fascination leads him to blind six horses in a Hampshire stable, psychiatrist Martin Dysart is tasked with uncovering the
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motive behind the boy’s violent act. As Dysart delves into Alan’s world of twisted spirituality, passion and sexuality, he begins to question his own sanity and motivations. While the action centres around Strang’s incarceration in a psychiatric hospital, the play gives equal weight to exploring Dysart’s sense of identity and self-doubt where his career is concerned, and the play poses some deep questions about psychiatry, religion and sexuality. Ethan Kai’s performance as Alan develops gradually as the play unfolds. We meet him silent, mysterious and brooding and as he begins to talk, he is emotional and agonised, confident with the play’s famed nudity. Much of the action plays on
Actors play horses using their bodies and movement an empty, curtained stage, with a metal hospital bed at its sole, cold object, yet clever use of coloured lighting and motion creates a lot of visual interest. There are no horse masks in this production; actors play horses mesmerisingly using just their bodies and movement, giving enormous sensuality to the relationship between Alan and Equus. This story of teenage angst and sexuality, religion and repressionmay not be a cheerful one but it makes for a memorable and striking piece of theatre.
VERDICT
Intense, gripping and disturbing ★★★★★ EQUUS CONTINUES UNTIL 7 SEPTEMBER AT TRAFALGAR STUDIOS
trafalgarentertainment.com
A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s
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21/08/2019 16:36