Equus

Peter Shaffer's Equus (1973) won the 1975 Tony Award for best play. A sensation at the time, it is still visceral and shocking on stage. Alan Strang, a disturbed young man, has been committed to a psychiatric hospital for blinding six horses. The play focuses on the relationship between Strang and the psychiatrist Martin Dysart who has taken on the case; as Dysart unfolds the motivations behind the seemingly motiveless and barbaric act he is forced to revaluate his own life and beliefs.The play is essentially a modern working of classical Greek tragedy. Dysart is forced to see that myth and mythology is an essential part of the human psyche; the play questions how the absence of myth affects the value of life, rendering the patients Dysart "cures" bland, conventional and metaphorically blind.Peter Shaffer through the text uses the stage directions of the play's premiere, John Dexter's Old Vic production in 1973. The stylised set, the way the scenes segue from present to past, with all actors permanently on stage, makes for fascinating reading: it is possible to visualise the production even for those who have not seen it. In paticular the way Dexter deals with the horses, with actors using masks which they ceremoniously don whenever the horses appear on stage, and his determination to avoid realism, accentuate the mythic force of the play and makes it a real tour de force.Yes, there is something odd about reading a play, something clearly designed to be seen on stage: but Shaffer's detailed directions make this not only possible but richly rewarding.

Bought for my daughter's A level English course. Good value for money, good quality.

Bought for A level drama, what can I say?!

Again, I knew the play and the film well and possibly thinking of taking it into the classroom again, bought a new copy. A great work.

Useful for A-level English students