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the passion8words
The passion8words is presented by Jeff Thomson.
on air - fun 8 word theatre reviews.
online - full reviews written by Jeff.
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EQUUS
TOURING
(reviewed at THE CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE)
“Equus” was a sensation when it opened in 1973 and the script holds its own 35 years later; but the exploration of human frailty invariably does.
At face value playwright Peter Shaffer gives us a psychosexual drama about Alan Strang (Alfie Allen) – a youth who is guilty of blinding of six horses. Shaffer’s journey into the landscape of Strang’s mind additionally explores the disappointment and self-doubt of the boy’s psychiatrist. It is riveting stuff.
Alfie Allen, as the distressed youth, gives a performance that begins as compelling and develops into a triumph. He is truculent, vulnerable, violent and engaging in measured turns. That they are calibrated and seem ‘so natural’ says much for Allen’s skill and as these are not always captured in the role of Alan Strang – comparison is all!
Simon Callow disappoints. And sadly, for me, usually does. Callow’s interpretation of the psychiatrist Martin Dysart is steady and safe and is an opportunity lost. The performance I saw was both externalised and declaimed, offering little subtlety in a role pivoting on an ‘internal struggle.’
Linda Thorson as ‘the local magistrate’ and Dysart’s conscience (or even social nemesis) brings additional clarity to the production with some nicely pointed questions.
Overall the re-interpretation of Shaffer’s classic is confident and well paced but the shadow of the seventies hangs about the production as a heavy pall. Gone is the original ‘pretence’ of theatre-in-the-round however, the oblong shapes and boxes representing furniture and location, remain much in evidence.
At best one can observe that director Thea Sharrock has remained true to the text but I would have welcomed something more dynamic for a new millennium. If you have never seen this play before, then go; if you already have treasured memories – keep them!!
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