Peter Shaffer's play Equus is an exploration of the isolation many adolescents experience during this turbulent period of sexual awakening. Inspired by a true story, Equus (Latin for horse) revolves around the tale of a very disturbed 17 year-old boy who inexplicably horrendously blinds six horses with a metal rod. Shaffer's imagination then takes off and we are immersed in a psychological drama as the boy is bundled off to a child psychiatrist, a friend of the concerned magistrate who is keen for the boy to avoid a custodial sentence.
First performed to critical acclaim in 1973, the content of the play is still riveting as we become immersed in the actions, and analysis, of both the child psychiatrist Martin Dysart - a strong performance by the renowned British actor Simon Callow - and the disturbed boy Alan Strang, sensitively played by Alfie Allen.
But for the full impact of the play to be felt, much praise must go to director Thea Sharrock and designer John Napier. With a miminalistic set, a vital aspect of Equus is that the audiences' imagination is captured by what John Napier would call the essence of the Swiss sculptor Giacometti's ‘gravitas and ... energy which is central to the horse.' To achieve this end, Napier - using original designs from the 1973 production, has created powerful, lifelike metal horse heads which the actors use to resemble the realistic, graceful movements of these animals.
This powerful production, with an erudite script, takes us on Alan Strange's agonising adolescent journey where his parents could be blamed for his deeply disturbing actions - his parents are polarised on religion, the father an atheist, the mother a strong believer - both convincingly portrayed by Alfie Allen and Helen Anderson. As the child psychiatrist gradually manipulates the boy into disclosing his secret we begin to appreciate not only the individuality of this awakening character, but also how Dysart is immersed in a discontented existence.
Times: 7.30pm, til 23 February