The Pittsburgh Tatler: What is it about our current Zeitgeist that brings a play like Equus back into the repertoire? The play had a run on Broadway a few years back, with Daniel Radcliffe in the role of Alan Strang, the disturbed young man who blinds six horses, and it is now playing at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, featuring Spencer T. Hamp as Strang and Daniel Krell as the psychologist Martin Dysart, who is tasked with figuring out why Strang committed that brutal act.
3 comments:
I have been trying to go see this play with friends for weeks. Equus is such a unique play, and discusses many taboo subject. There really is no other experience quite like it. Personally I’m very interested in seeing it because it was referenced in a videogame that I love called Kentucky Route Zero. The game has a lot of inspiration from theater, including the gas station in the first scene called Equus Oils, complete with a statue of a horse head and a blind man to run the station. I didn’t realize what Equus was entirely about until reading this article, it frames the synopsis and interpretation of the basic objectives much better than others that I have read. I am very interested to see the creative costuming elements after seeing the photo of the horse in the article, and I’m curious as to if the other horses all look the same or different.
I knew very little about this show, other than Daniel Radcliffe gets naked in it. That being said this gave me a much better understanding in to what the plot it and larger, the main topics and issues it covers. It's a show about mental health and how its seen. I had never herd the comparison of mental illness to being closer to god. It would be interesting to see the show just to find out how that correlation works. I can definitely see the relationship between this generation and being materialistic with new technology coming out everyday and its ability to connect us to the world. On a philosophical level, i am intrigued about this show. I don't think I quite know to what depths this play intends to go but i look forward to seeing it.
Last year, I read Equus and the play introduced me to a whole different side of theater which embraces the theatricality and rather than realism just has the bare minimum. The play had a huge emotional impact on me, and I found myself wrapped up in these characters. I would love the chance to actually see it, because so much of the play is visual action rather than just dialogue. When I tried to get my friends to go see the play, they only knew as “that weird horse play”, yes the play is weird, but I want to know why it keeps coming up. Why does this “strange” play keep resonating with people despite the fact that it is about a unique situation? While the play has held up fairly well over time, I would have to revisit the play to address reviewer’s critique about mental illness in the play.
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