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Show: Equus
Society: Questors, The
Venue: The Questors Theatre, Ealing
Credits: Peter Shaffer
Type: Sardines
Author: Chris Abbott
Performance Date: 14/04/2015
Equus
Chris Abbott | 15 Apr 2015 10:35am
“With one particular horse, called Nugget, he embraces.”
And so begins a classic of 1970s theatre, now given a new lease of life following its recent revival in London and on Broadway. The play can be seen as the first of Shaffer’s three explorations of an older man who has lost his faith in opposition to a younger figure who still has access to the mystical world. In The Royal Hunt of the Sun, Pizarro envies Atahuallpa, in Amadeus it is Salieri and Mozart, and in Equus the psychiatrist Dysart engages with a boy, Alan Strang, who has committed a violent crime.
It is thus in the casting of these two central roles, and their direction, that the success of a production of this difficult piece can be achieved. In the hands of an experienced team at the Questors in Ealing, this was a satisfying and convincing account, presented within the fairly detailed parameters set out by the author.
John Napier’s original design for the NT at the Old Vic is almost always present in some form in any production of Equus, and the horse masks and hoofs used by Jamie King, Angus Duke and Eamon Yates were firmly in that tradition. In some ways, it is the restless stamping of the hoofs and the movement of the horses that is even more important than the masks, and the trio of actors, and movement consultant Nicholas Jonne Wilson, are to be congratulated for ensuring that the horses were palpably present. I was not totally convinced, however, by the use of three actors for the horse at the climax of the first act, although this is one of several very difficult moments in the play.
The configuration of the Judi Dench Playhouse, with the playing square on a thrust stage, suited the play well and ensured that the attention of the audience was fixed on the action. It was a pity, however, that the other performers were stationed so far upstage; they also form part of the audience for Dysart’s agonising and he needs to be able to include them as he speaks.
In many ways, Shaffer’s play, now forty years old, is as much a period piece as a Rattigan or Coward. The smaller roles in Equus are fairly sketchy and offer little more than stereotypes in some cases, but Lisa Day gave a heartfelt, naturalistic performance as Dora. As her husband Frank, Robert Vass blustered and blundered convincingly even in the far from believable scene in the cinema, the like of which has never existed in Winchester, then or now…
Elena Zagaglia contributed a convincing series of appearances as the brisk and fairly unsympathetic nurse, balanced by Maggie Turner’s kind-hearted magistrate. Robert Gordon Clark’s stable owner made what he could of a few opportunities, and Jessica Moat, in the small but crucial role of Jill, was entirely at home in the role, and in particular when playing opposite Nick Thomas in the difficult climactic scene.
As Dysart, John Dobson began with a rather interesting reading of the role, far more rapid-fire than usual and almost off-hand. However, as the tension built, so did his own agonising. When he comes to realise what he has done by “curing” the boy, he also becomes aware of the depths of his own lost faith. As he says “Can you think of anything worse one can do to anybody than take away their worship?”
Nick Thomas as Alan gave an intelligent and thoughtful reading of the role, flippant at first, and then crawling further and further into his fantasies and memories. Although Dysart may be the biggest role, it is the actor playing Strang that has to carry the play during the final half-hour; a lapse in concentration or a change in tone here can lost the audience very rapidly. Thomas very successfully gained the attention of the house and kept it through to the final curtain, and well deserved, as did all involved, the warm applause that followed.
Simon Rudkin’s production, on a set designed by Peter Collins and with excellent sound and lighting, paid due homage to the history of Equus but without in any way presenting it as a museum piece. As noted in the programme much has changed since the first production, with the onstage smoking of a cigarette seeming almost more unusual than the almost commonplace nudity in performance.
The essential aim is to illuminate and explore the central relationship between Dysart and Strang, and to place them at the centre of the action; and this Rudkin’s direction did most effectively in a fluid and fast-paced production.
Perhaps one day someone will present Equus in quite a different way, on a very different set, and portraying the horses through other devices. Perhaps a challenge in another twenty years or so for the third production of Equus at the Questors?
- : admin
- : 14/04/2015