The Sunday Times writes about Equus - “It is magnificent. Rarely does contemporary drama probe so deep – an electrifying evening of theatre.” The performance is recommended for ages 16 & up due to adult themes, nudity and strong language.
A $15 preview performance is scheduled for October 6 at 7:30pm. Opening Night is Thursday, October 7 at 7:30pm (complimentary wine and cheese at 6:30pm). Additional performances are scheduled: Fri & Sat Oct 8 & 9 at 8pm, Sun Oct 10 at 2pm, Thur Oct 14 at 7:30pm, Fri & Sat Oct 15 & 16th 8, Sun Oct 17 2pm. A talk back with the cast is scheduled for Sunday, October 10, immediately following the
performance.
Tickets range from $22.50 to $32.50. Seniors, Students, and Let’s Go Arts members save $2.50 a ticket. To purchase tickets call 860-523-5900 ext 10 or visit www.playhouseonpark.org. Student rush, 15-minutes prior to curtain, $10 cash only, with valid student id. Visit the website to learn about the lunch time special.
Dark Powers Unleashed in Equus
Reviewed by Donna Bailey-Thompson
www.TheArtsEtc.com
Equus burbles in a cauldron of mythology, religion, sex, workship, violence, passion and emotional pain. As presented by a company of gifted actors in West Hartford's stylish Playhouse on Park, the play's intensity and intrigue are continuous. Written by Peter Shaffer and first produced in London in 1973, Equus is as gripping 37 years later.
Staged in the three-quarter round, the elegant set is limited to building blocks that serve as places to sit, sleep, challenge and shock. Shaffer created a script inspired by a newspaper account of a horrifying crime: a boy deliberately blinds six horses. What forces conspired within him to commit such an abhorrent act?
Leading the search for truth is the respected psychotherapist, Martin Dysart, portrayed by Alan Rust with the determination of a benevolent Sherlock Holmes. The process prompts him to delve further into his own psyche, especially as it is affected by his loveless marriage. The parents of the boy, Frank (Terry Laymen) and Dorra Strang (Denise Walker) are, understandingly, defensive: he is an atheist with unsatisfied sexual needs while she is a devoted Christian who believes sex is dirty. They are burdened by absorbed layers of frustrations and misunderstandings. Supplying better balanced personalities, and in particular, logic, are Dr. Dysart’s outspoken friend and magistrate Hesther Salomon (Nora Chester, whose mannerisms could be mistaken for Angela Lanbury’s younger sister), and a bubbly girl, Jill Mason (Sasha Pasternak, who brims over with youthful vitality).
The play revolves around the onion-peeling of the troubled boy, Alan Strang, played with remarkable strength by Mark Ford, a junior at the Hartt School. He progresses from a traumatized boy who responds to questions with idiotic commercial jingles through peeks into how he was shaped by his parents’ obsessions and, ultimately, how his mind garbled the identities of his favorite horse Nugget with Jesus.
Much of the hypnotic power of this play is supplied by the horses – six tall, slender men, dressed in black body suits, wearing wire horse-head masks and elevated horseshoes. They paw the ground. They stomp. They accept the boy’s stroking. They stop short of whinnying and snorting. Without their animation (Alex Levin, Charles South, Adam Sarette, Nick Giuliani, David Raposo, and Scott Caron) Equus would be interesting but not breath-taking dynamic.
This dramatic package bears the sensitive leadership of its director, Robert H. Davis, a Professor of Acting and Voice & Speech in The Hartt School’s Theatre Division at the University of Hartford. The technical direction (Steve Mountzoures), sound design (Noah Kaufman),and lighting design (Daniel Garrison, are exemplary.
The Playhouse on Park production of Equus is worthy of a much longer run so see this engrossing play while you can, now through October 17, 2010. There is a scene of full nudity that some may object to. Pity, because the bodies are beautiful.
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ROBERT H. DAVIS' DIRECTOR'S NOTESThis production of Peter Shaffer’s Equus has been made possible by a collaboration between Playhouse on Park and The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. For the Playhouse, it has been an opportunity to take on a famously challenging piece of theatre that requires a large company of skilled artists. For The Hartt School, it has allowed advanced students in the Theatre Division’s professional performance training programs to work in a company of experienced artists that includes Hartt faculty, staff and alumni as well as guest professional actors. It has been for the students the kind of classic apprenticeship that is so important in the training process. The collaboration has even spread beyond the Theatre Division. This production features an original score and sound design composed by a Hartt music composition student and the Playhouse currently has interns on its staff from Hartt’s performing arts management program. These kinds of synergies are what the theatre of the future will depend on for its continued development. We are all proud to have found such a meaningful way to come together to work on this remarkable play.
...Equus won the 1975 Tony Award [and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award] for Best Play. The director, John Dexter, also won a Tony for his original work. All productions since, including this one, owe a debt of graditute to Dexter for his innovative staging.
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The Equus cast includes the talents of Terry Layman whose Broadway credits include Proof and The Ride Down Mount Morgan as well as numerous national, film and tv credits. Alan Rust, who has performed in theatres throughout the country including The Hartford Stage Company, The Cleveland Playhouse, The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, the Monomoy Theatre and more; Nora Chester has appeared in regional theatres across the country from Alaska (Alaska Repertory Theatre) to Florida (The Asolo) including The Alley Theatre in Houston, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, The McCarter, The Long Wharf, GeVa, Syracuse Stage, Philadelphia Theatre Festival of New Plays, Stage West, Peterborough Players, and Northern Stage. Hartt theatre division student Mark Ford will play Alan Strang. The cast also includes Denise Walker and several theatre students from The Hartt School.
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