Equus took the theatre world by storm in 1973, forever changing the paradigm of the possible. With it’s minimal set, primitive horse masks, characters bearing witness like a chorus, primal rhythms of worship and sacramental nudity, it was both shocking and cunning. Playwright Peter Shaffer built upon the premise (disturbed teenage boy blinds six horses) to consider the link between passivity and defiance, the Christian model of maleness, the intensity of pagan adulation, sexuality and manhood, and homoeroticism. Not that it’s all neatly lined up for cogitation. Elements spill over into each other, sparking combustion both terrifying and glorious. Shaffer captured the overwhelming experience of boy adolescence, with all its raw fear and ecstasy. Staging was neither for the faint of heart nor the reckless. It was difficult to fight the fear that we were dancing along the mouth of a volcano.
Martin Dysart is a child psychologist, practicing in England, where Equus is set. Hesther, Dysart’s friend and a magistrate, begs him to take on a case so atrocious, she fears no other doctor can be objective. After considerable arm-twisting, Dysart succumbs, and begins his investigation of Alan Strang’s attack on the horses, and the pathology behind it. Alan is evasive at first. Angry and snotty and confrontational; unsettling Dysart with intuitive digs at his personal life. Progress is slow and beleaguered by baffling details and back-pedaling. Dysart envies Alan his exhilarating midnight rides on Nugget, i.e., his horsegod: Equus.
Critiquing theatre as long as I have, you develop a strong appreciation for originality, bold vision and taking chances. Conventional staging can be all right, if it’s consistent with theme and content. But when you bring a fresh slant to shows that have entered the canon, this can be cause for excitement. Changing the time and setting of Taming of the Shrew, for example, makes it easier for the audience to identify. Director Adam Adolfo has taken brave risks in Lakeside Community Theatre’s current production of Equus, breaking away from the tropes of other productions. Adolfo digs deep, as if wrapping himself in subtext, bringing it to the surface. Adolfo’s vision is unique (and certainly subversive) pulling us into a nether realm of pain and dominance. All the actors are double cast as horses. The audience is, in effect, ushered into a stable, with redolent odors of straw, wood and leather. There is a persistent chorus of nickering, neighing, snorting and stomping hooves.
LCT’s Equus is powerful, life changing theatre. Adolfo cooks up Shaffer’s tumultuous narrative of Dysart and Strang’s ordeal, keeping it raw yet articulate. Equus may arguably be one of the most demanding scripts you could choose. It needs meticulous focus, restrained yet seething rage, and a pervasive sense of elemental forces beyond our grasp. The cast (Ellen Bell, Dale Moon, Jake Montgomery, Autumn McNamara, Nolan Spinks Cameron Fox, Jacob Hopson, Alex Rain, Andrew Derasaugh, Isabell Moon) is stalwart, provocative and utterly engaged. Especially noteworthy are
Dale Moon (Dysart) and Jake Montgomery (Strang). Moon brings a passionate despondence to the tormented psychiatrist, desperately trying to defuse Alan’s illness. Montgomery is electrifying and astonishing as the isolated and broken young man, aching to resolve the seachanges that come with manhood. Sometimes an actor trusts his intuition, taking us to that rare moment of grace and gestalt. Mr. Montgomery invite us into this startling turn, and it’s unforgettable.
Lakeside Community Theatre presents Equus, playing January 18th-February 2nd, 2019. 6303 Main Street, The Colony, Texas 75056. (214) 801-4869. www.lctthecolony.com