Equus

‘Equus,’ by Sir Peter Shaffer, is considered one of the greatest plays of the Twentieth Century. It won a Tony Award for Best Play in 1975. The exclusive rights to ‘Equus’ are so closely defended, that it has not been produced outside London or New York since 1973. However, remarkably Tony Bonney and Rodney Phillips, the general managers of Perth Theatre Company and His Majesty's Theatre, joined forces to bring this significant play to Perth, beating far larger companies throughout Australia.

‘Equus’ is being performed at His Majesty’s Theatre, 825 Hay Street, Perth each evening at 7.30 pm until 26^th September.

         In a stable, we experience the remarkable birth of a foal, which is then greeted to the world by Alan Strang (Khan Chittenden), the stable boy.

         There is a time change, and we join a Magistrate (Jodie Buzza) as she begs Dr Martin Dysart (William McInnes) who has been a child psychiatrist for decades, to take on the challenging task of treating seventeen-year-old Alan, a withdrawn loner. This stable boy has committed the atrocity of blinding six horses for no apparent reason, and yet Alan seems to have had an almost unhealthy attachment to a particular horse, his ‘God’, Nugget – ‘I am yours and you are mine’.

         Reluctantly, Dysart goes to see the groom in the mental hospital, where the matron (Caroline McKenzie) tells of the boy’s nightmares and his almost autistic behaviour. Dr Dysart approaches his client with a slightly aloof attitude, only to find that the boy locks him out. Slowly, after interviews with his parents, the doctor feels that the sexual repression and dark enigmas of the boy are, as always, probably due to his home environment.  However, there is still something that is not quite coming to the surface. Is there a schism between Alan and the parents? Is his dogmatic, yet introverted father, Frank (Murray Dowsett) and his bible-thumping mother Dora (Vivienne Garrett) - both with their Victorian attitudes - the real root of the groom’s problem?

         It appears that Alan’s only friend is Jill (Alexandra Fisher), a girl he met in a shop, who introduced him to Harry Dalton (Peter Holland) the owner of the local stables.

        After numerous counselling sessions with the boy, Dysart’s years of haughtily treating his patients like an automaton, as per the book, the psychiatrist is now faced with the seeds of self-doubt as to the techniques he employs, and his final analyses of patients. Slowly like a police investigation, the parts of the jigsaw fall into place.

         Could it be, that the youth’s eccentricity is in fact normal under the circumstances and that we, the audience, are similar at heart.

All of the horses are dancers, who under choreographer, Gavin Webber, produce all of the mannerisms of these beautiful animals. The equine dancers Sete Tele, Joshua Thomson, Joshua Mu, Paea Leach, Russell Leonard and Elizabeth McDonnell demonstrated the inner feelings astonishingly well, especially whilst being groomed. They must have spent hours studying horses.

Shaun Gurton’s set was a massive glass cube, which allowed one to see enacted behind, the story as it was being told. There was a magnificent shower scene as gallons of water poured from the sky. Graham Walne, the lighting designer, employed the normal soft flood light for most of the play, but when tensions increased, he turned to bright stark single colour background, throwing the players at the front of the stage into silhouette.

Wency De Souza and Kingsley Reeve’s sound design and composition started as a low frequency rumble and hum, building up a crescendo with tympanis and cymbals.
Sue Kerr (wardrobe) produced some stunning wire framed horses heads for the dancers to wear.

It was great to see so many WAAPA theatre graduates in such a major production.

It is thought that Sir Peter (identical twin brother of Anthony, who wrote ‘Sleuth’), despite the three Oscar nominations, disliked the film of his book so much that he put it on ice for many years. Melissa Cantwell is therefore highly honoured being given this prestigious play to direct, for the first time in the southern hemisphere. Sir Peter would be extremely proud of this production.

Not surprisingly, the depth of performances from William (who won an AFI Award last year) and Khan (Best Lead Actor in 2007) in this primal relationship was incredible. William, who was on stage for the whole play, kept the audience in total silence, listening enthralled to his every word.

Every emotion seems to have been woven into this play, horror (not gory), humour, sadness, titillation, love, sympathy and repulsion. You will leave the theatre after a confronting and searching ride, re-evaluating your personal principles. Nothing has been lost in the decades since this very richly written (almost Shakespearean at times) play was conceived; it is still as compelling and unsettling a subject as ever.

There are good plays, brilliant plays and ‘Equus’, which is off the superlative scale. The rapturous applause from the audience at the end said it all. Totally magnificent.