"The thing is, I'm desperate. You see, I'm wearing that horse's head myself. That's the feeling. All reined up in old language and old assumptions, straining to jump clean-hoofed on to a whole new track of being I only suspect is there. I can't see it because my educated, average head is being held at the wrong angle. I can't jump because the bit forbids it, and my own basic force - my horsepower, if you like - is too little. The only thing I know for sure is this: a horse's head is finally unknowable to me."
Can passionate, even dangerous worship have a place in our orderly, mental health-obsessed culture? This is the question at the center of Equus. It is most definitely a play about big ideas. But it is also about a young man's struggle to find ecstasy in a world of limits and numbing normalcy. So towering is Alan Strang's passion, that it haunts the introspective but repressed Martin Dysart, the doctor in charge of his treatment. I cannot recommend this play more highly. It is just a great read, and will be fodder for much thought and questioning of your own.
Characters: 5M, 4W, chorus of horses Scenes/Monologues: Many scenes, especially adult/teenager. Several monologues for middle-aged actors.
Recommended by: Adam
Also by Peter Shaffer: Amadeus Lettice and Lovage The Private Ear The Public Eye The Royal Hunt of the Sun The White Liars Black Comedy Five Finger Exercise Gift of the Gorgon Yonadab Shrivings Whom Do I Have the Honour of Addressing?
