Peter Shaffer’s Tony Award-winning play, Equus, described as a “psychological
thriller,” opens at Palm Beach Dramaworks (PBD) on May 18 and continues through
June 3. The idea was suggested to the
playwright by a real life incident, although the details were never known to
him. But it inspired his imagination and
Shaffer wrote what is considered one of the great English plays of the late 20th
century. It stands on the level with his
other, perhaps better known play, Amadeus.
It takes an exceptional theatre company to produce a play
of this magnitude and intensity. Not
many regional theaters are prepared to showcase a cast of this size with all
its emotional rawness. So for those of
us in South Florida it is an opportunity to see a Broadway quality play (in
fact, it was last revived on Broadway in 2008 which included the Broadway debut
of Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame). The PBD production is being directed
by J. Barry Lewis.
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| Peter Simon Hilton, J. Barry Lewis, Mallory Newbrough |
Seventeen year old Alan Strang is a “strange” boy. Sexually repressed, the only son of a obsessively
religious mother and an atheist father, fervently and delusionally conflates the
suffering of the symbol of Christianity, Jesus, with those of horses, their
having to endure bridles, reins, stirrups, riders dashing spurs against their
flanks. And yet, Alan is moved by “the
way they give themselves to us.” Alan
replaces a portrait of Jesus in his room with a picture of a horse: “behold I
give you Equus, my only begotten son.”
A series of events brings Alan into a job as a stable boy
where he can be with the horses he worships and where he feels sexually aroused
in their presence. His erotic,
passionate obsession with horses leads to the horrific and unfathomable act of
blinding six of them.
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| Steven Maier |
Alan is played by Steven Maier. One of Dramaworks’ strengths has been in
discovering new talent and then casting them in the perfect role. In Steven Maier, a young actor in his mid 20s
they have found someone who can play this very intense part. Maier revealed that through his background in
music, as an accomplished guitarist and songwriter, he can develop “an
emotional rawness that helps me approach the character of Alan in an organic
way. Songwriting about my inner feelings makes me fearless.”
“It’s a unique role, a real challenge for me. But I have
to approach it as any other role, with truthfulness and honesty, and this one
is layered with incredible intensity which builds throughout the play. Every
audience will have their own reaction to Alan. All I can do is to play it
honestly and with passion.” Also as a
young actor he finds “a special pleasure to work with such a group of
experienced actors and a director such as J. Barry. Every day is a learning
experience.”
Alan’s case is brought to the attention of Martin Dysart
(played by PBD veteran Peter Simon Hilton), the head psychiatrist at a local
hospital who specializes in childhood trauma by his close friend and magistrate,
Hesther Salomon (played by another PBD veteran Anne-Marie Cusson). She believes that Dysart is the only one who can
delve into the disturbed boy’s unconscious and can “cure” him. Against his objections of taking on still
another patient, Dysart is nonetheless intrigued by the details of Alan’s
case. And so the unraveling of the
mystery begins.
Dysart has his own issues, a loveless marriage and a
profession he sometimes questions. The
closer he comes to “breaking the case” the more he backs away, fearing that
“curing” Alan will rob the boy of his passionate nature, the magnitude of which he himself has never
known. In fact, this is Shaffer’s
comment on modern mankind sliding into obedient citizens simply living out dull
and ordinary lives. One can remember Salieri’s
obsession with “mediocrity” in Amadeus. Dysart has a similar obsession fearing his
profession is killing passion.
Peter Simon Hilton, from Arcadia fame last year at Dramaworks, plays the conflicted
character Dysart. “Equus is very visceral as opposed to Arcadia which is very intellectual.
The audience gets right into this play. In many ways it still shocks
today.” About his character Hilton said,
“one essentially likes him as he doesn’t give up. And I relate to him as I’m
English and I’m old enough to remember the times the play is set in. My memory
of the cultural references brings advantages in my interpretation of the
character. And as I studied classics, I was able to fast track into my
understanding of Dysart’s obsession with Greek history and mythology. It’s one
of the great acting roles in the theatre and it’s such an opportunity to play
the part. And although the play is set in the 70’s, it is a timeless play.”
Interestingly, both Peter Simon Hilton and Steven Maier
cited the same line from the play as their favorite. It is spoken by Dysart but of Alan: “That's
what his stare has been saying to me all this time. ‘At least I galloped! When
did you?’”
The highly experienced J. Barry Lewis is the director of Equus. He thinks of the script as “poetry at times –
the words give clarity to issues in the play. The story is not what Alan
did but why. And in looking for clues we find where anyone’s passion may
lie. Have I done enough? Am I good enough? But we question – and that’s what
makes this so relevant: the universal notion of self doubt. And in the case of
Dysart he is struggling with a case of ‘professional menopause.’“
“Style is the biggest challenge for me, as a director, to
bring this play to life. Staging is something Peter Shaffer gives over to the
director to bring the playwright’s imagination alive to the audience. And style
is the big surprise of the play: its minimalism, strip away everything and let
the story be told. It is extraordinarily representational. And I love the
ability to tell stories in a new framing device.”
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The “Horses” of Equus
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In addition to actors named above, Alan’s parents are
played by two PBD veterans, John Leonard Thompson as Frank Strang and Julie
Rowe as Dora Strang. Alan’s
unconsummated love interest in Jill Mason (played by PBD veteran Mallory
Newbrough) has such a pivotal role leading to the horrific act. Other actors, all making their PBD debuts,
are Steve Carroll, Meredith Bartmon, Domenic Servidio, Nicholas Lovalvo, Robert
Richards, Jr., Frank Vomero, and Austin Carroll. Scenic design is by Anne Mundell, costume
design is by Franne Lee, lighting design is by Kirk Bookman, and sound design
is by Steve Shapiro. Lee Soroko is the
movement coordinator, and Ben Furey is the dialect coach.
Equus is a
multilayered play dissecting the nature of sanity vs. passion, sex and religion. Palm Beach Dramaworks’ ambitious undertaking
can be seen beginning May 18 at The Don & Ann Brown Theatre in the heart of
downtown West Palm Beach. For ticket
information contact the box office at (561) 514-4042, or visit
www.palmbeachdramaworks.org.
Update: A Review of the play is now published at http://lacunaemusing.blogspot.com/2018/05/equus-soars-stuns-and-unsettles-at-palm.html
Update: A Review of the play is now published at http://lacunaemusing.blogspot.com/2018/05/equus-soars-stuns-and-unsettles-at-palm.html
All photographs by Samantha Mighdoll at the Dramaworks Rehearsal Studio
