Equus

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Play closed 9 June 2007

Gielgud Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue, London

A major revival of Peter Shaffer's play Equus in London starring Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths and directed by Thea Sharrock with designs by John Napier.

"One of the most emotive pieces of theatre ever written - An exceptional evening at the theatre"
The Daily Express

Alan Strang seems a normal, obedient 17-year old with a passion for horses. Then one night he blinds six horses with a hoof pick. What drove him to it? His life seems routine, his family loving, his pursuits harmless and yet he has been placed under psychiatric surveillance - an unresponsive patient who is woken each night by terrible nightmares. Only psychiatrist Martin Dysart seems able to grasp the answer to this psychological puzzle.

"Thea Sharrock's vivid production - Equus is an exciting, unusual theatrical event" The Guardian

The cast for this major revival of Equus in London features Richard Griffiths as 'Martin Dysart' and Daniel Radcliffe as 'Alan Strang' along with Jenny Agutter as 'Hesther Saloman' and Will Kemp as 'The Young Horseman & Nugget'. The cast also includes Joanna Christie 'Jill Mason', Jonathan Cullen as 'Frank Strang', Colin Haigh 'Harry Dalton', Karen Meagher 'Nurse' and Gabrielle Reidy 'Dora Strang' with Joel Corpuz, Jami Quarrell, Greig Cooke, Temujin Gill and Jonathan Readwin as the 'Horses'. (Casting subject to change). Richard Griffiths' incredible stage and screen career spans two decades. His recent London West End appearances include Heroes at The Wyndham's Theatre and The History Boys at The National Theatre, which he also played in on Broadway, winning a Tony. Daniel Radcliffe is best known for playing the title role of Harry Potter in all four of the feature films based on J.K Rowling's best-selling books.

"Daniel Radcliffe electrified the stage with a new power. His scenes with the horses are brilliant and unnerving and there can be little doubt that Radcliffe, has a considerable stage presence"
The Daily Express

When the ground-breaking production of Peter Shaffer's Equus premiered at The National Theatre on 26 July 1973 it's theatrical impact was unprecedented. It was the most talked-about new play in London. Now for the first time in over 30 years, a new production of Equus returns to London's West End - and once again Equus promises to be the theatrical event of the year.

Please Note: This production is not suitable for children!

"The director, Thea Sharrock, seems to know very well that the play's climatic flashback sex scene is its one and only selling point and wastes little time with any great flourishes or original effects... There is a world of difference between film and theatre acting... Inevitably, the the scenes Daniel Radcliffe shared with his fellow actors, it was their experience that drew my eyes to them." The Sunday Telegraph

"Daniel Radcliffe brilliantly succeeds in throwing off the mantle of Harry Potter, announcing himself as a thrilling stage actor of unexpected range and depth. Despite minimal theatrical experience Radcliffe displays a dramatic power and an electrifying stage presence" The Daily Telegraph

"Peter Shaffer’s Equus is without doubt a play that deserves to be treated with respect. In fact, for all its faults, this extraordinary and sometimes horrifying story... remains one of the great English postwar plays... Radcliffe is mesmerising, capturing all of Strang’s weird charisma, his rage, his silently burning intensity, his accusatory stare, his mystery, his “keep out of my private sacred space” hatred... As a work of art, Equus is magnificent, though not perfect. Dysart talks too much, is too florid, too obviously Shaffer at times, haranguing his comfortable, middle-class, theatre-going audience. But Richard Griffiths is a joy in the role." The Sunday Times

"Equus packs a terrific punch in Thea Sharrock's powerful revival - the play is a huge hit all over again" The Daily Telegraph

"Alan Strang is, of course, meant to be alarmingly disturbed. The teenage protagonist in Peter Shaffer's famed but embarrassingly unconvincing shrink play, Equus, has been sectioned after blinding several horses... As for Daniel Radcliffe's skills as a performer, he is commendably proficient and acts stroppy but, directed by Thea Sharrock, his Alan never feels deeply messed up. In the circumstances, one is just glad to sense this young actor is emotionally sturdy." The Independent on Sunday

"As the mysterious adolescent - the play is shaped in the form of an investigation by a psychiatrist which seeks to find out why the stablehand mutilated the horses - [Daniel Radcliffe] is closely focused and, both literally and metaphorically, light on his feet: graceful, blankly insolent, persuasive... The problem isn't with the casting... Sharrock's production, too, is fine: sometimes underpowered but always intelligent. No, it's the play itself that's the difficulty: it's at the same time daft and dazzling." The Observer

Working closely with Peter Shaffer, director Thea Sharrock has made a number of minor adjustments to the original text of Equus for this major London revival: "We've looked very hard at everything and tried to make it feel as contemporary as possible. We are perhaps more familiar with psychiatry and its language than we were in 1973 yet, because Peter based the play in such a real medical world, the medical content feels extremely up to date. And the narrative is so strong, it's like reading a thriller. What is particularly liberating about the play is that Peter trusts the audience to use its imagination. You don't have to create an image that will tell you what the walls look like or which pictures would have been hung on them... It's a wonderful play, an exceptional piece of work. And because it's not recently been done professionally, that gives us an immense opportunity. Like all the best plays, Equus asks the questions but doesn't give you the answers. It looks at the way we treat teenagers in a society where there is a complete and utter absence of religion or worship and it asks what they are supposed to believe in now. Audiences should, we hope, experience a thrilling night at the theatre and come away with all these questions reverberating in their minds."

"With one particular horse, called Nugget, Alan embraces. The animal digs its sweaty brow into his cheek, and they stand in the dark for an hour - like a necking couple. And of all nonsensical things - I keep thinking about the horse! Not the boy: the horse, and what it may be trying to do. I keep seeing that huge head kissing him with its chained mouth. Nudging through the metal some desire absolutely irrelevant to filling its belly or propagating its own kind. What desire could that be? Not to stay a horse any longer? Not to remain reined up for ever in those particular genetic strings? Is it possible, at certain moments we cannot imagine, a horse can add its sufferings together - the non-stop jerks and jabs that are its daily life - and turn them into grief? What use is grief to a horse? You see, I'm lost. What use, I should he asking, are questions like these to an overworked psychiatrist in a provincial hospital? They're worse than useless; they are, in fact. subversive. The thing is. I'm desperate ... I'm sorry. I'm not making much sense. Let me start properly; in order. It began one Monday last month..." Martin Dysart, a pschiatrist.

Peter Shaffer on his play Equus: "One weekend I was driving with a friend through bleak countryside. We passed a stable. Suddenly he was reminded by it of an alarming crime which he had heard about recently at a dinner party in London. He knew only one horrible detail, and his complete mention of it could barely have lasted a minute - but it was enough to arouse in me an intense fascination... Every person and incident in Equus is of my own invention, save the crime itself; and even that I modified to accord with what I feel to be acceptable theatrical proportion. I am grateful now that I have never received confirmed details of the real story, since my concern has been more and more with a different kind of exploration."