Playwright: Peter  Shaffer

Director: Daniel Dsouza

Cast: Eamonn Ennis, Daniel Dsouza, Nakul Jayadevan, Rebecca Spurgeon,Vikrant Dhote, Mansi Multani, Jason Menezes, Gautmik, Nishtha Bhargava.

Duration: 2 hours

Language: English

Theatre Group: Jester Productions                                         

 

Alan Strang is an adolescent who has blinded horses. He is consequently referred to Dr. Martin Dysart, who must analyze and normalize him. What ensues is highly strung psychological drama, as Dysart attempts to strip down Alan’s unconscious and close in on the trigger that led to the event. As Alan mouths his wishes, guilt, fantasies and dreams, we discover how and why they were born. His atheist father and his disturbingly religious mother have unknowingly bred a religious obsession and sexual fixation with horses. In deconstructing Alan’s conflicts, Dysart becomes aware of his own unresolved repression and resistance. Shaffer’s “Equus” is a play with multiple themes- the overwhelming impact of passion; the effect of experiences on actions; the drawbacks of conventional religion, the need to legitimize love and the debilitating force of social sanction. 

 

A play like this has obvious scope for resonating with the audience. Jester’s production of “Equus” however, doesn’t.

 

Eamonn Ennis is a disappointing Dysart. His lines stumble and fall as he shifts from being painfully loud to mumbling, unclear at all times. The other actors too speak in an oppressive half-English accent not suited to the Indian tongue. Their lines speed so quickly that you wonder if they’ve taken off all the punctuation marks from Shaffer’s text. Daniel D’souza (Alan) makes an inconsistent performance. Actors forget their lines and often appear to be talking to themselves. Parts of the play’s action are so clumsy enough to make it appear like an annual day school skit. Even at points of potentially explosive emotional unraveling the play lumbers and slumbers. 

 

Few things save the play. Among them are clean stage arrangement (in-keeping with the original text) lighting, music and the sensitively handled erotic bits. 

 

Shaffer’s “Equus” is a text that evokes as it disturbs; Jester’s “Equus” disturbs. The audience shifts in their seats and you wish you read the text at home.