October 17, 2011
I break horses - Equus mesmerizes with bold staging, unorthodox video projections and an excellent castBy Neil Boyce
September 22, 2011
It’s tempting to do a “compare and contrast” of the Segal season opener, Peter Shaffer’s Equus. Thispast April, Montreal audiences saw a different English production at the Rialto. Directed by Paul VanDyck, it took place in a small setting and with a limited budget, but was a great show that drew viewersinto its dark drama. The current production, by London-based Israeli director and choreographer DomyReiter-Soffer, is equally effective, but another animal entirely: big stage, big set, big actor in the lead,and a show that wants to impress by knocking you over. Reiter-Soffer’s Equus overwhelms itsaudience with bold staging, video projections and a loud, pulsing sound design for a very cinematic treatment.
Shaffer’s story is as fresh and relevant today as when it premiered at London’s Old Vic in 1973.Psychiatrist Martin Dysart is asked by a colleague to take on a difficult case treating a stable-boy inrural England taken into custody after blinding six horses with a metal spike. The play is book-endedwith reflective monologues from Dysart (played by Jean Mar-chand). He readily admits he’s in“professional menopause,” feeling ineffective in his career, and becomes easily drawn into the world ofhis young patient, Alan Strang.
Dan Jeanotte’s portrayal of Strang isn’t the actor’s first venture outside the sketch comedy of his groupUncalled For, nor is it even his first dramatic role, but getting cast as co-lead in such a demand-ing,high-profile part does lend the performance a break-out feel, and he’s a solid and expressive actor.It’s a complex work, pitting passion against reason, questioning the consequences of “curing” a patientwho feels alive for the first time. Marchand’s perfectly crisp enunciation underscores the Doc-tor’sweariness. “The great thing about being in the adjustment business is you’re never short ofcustomers,” he scoffs.
Supporting actor Daniel Lillford is captivating as Strang’s stern, socialist-atheist father Frank. Tornbetween the worlds of his father and Bible-reading mother (Ellen David), young Strang makes a deityof his own in Equus, a horse-god in whom he invests all his commingled desires for worship, powerand sexual release.
Reiter-Soffer has heightened the artificiality of the piece—situating it in a symbol-laden fantasy worldto match Strang’s intoxicating visions. Swirling video projections form the backdrop as Strang revealsthe world he’s constructed to replace his drab life: a sensual, sensory-overloaded world that engulfshim as he sneaks a horse out of the stable for a midnight ride, the sweat and pounding fury of theanimal beneath him an almost unbearably ecstatic experience.
When the horses finally appear to us, they’re the fearsome, awe-inspiring creatures of Strang’simagination. Reiter-Soffer eschews the use of masks often seen in other productions, and chose acast with backgrounds in ballet to play the beasts. Panting, stepping, with eyes wild and slathered indark makeup, the dancers make an unforgettable impression, and it’s here that the director has thesurest footing.
Sharp observations, brilliantly crafted, run through Shaffer’s text. Dysart can restore Strang tonormality, but only by excising from him “parts of individuality repugnant to this God…parts sacred torarer and more wonderful Gods.”
And when Dysart thinks how Strang might regard the Doctor’s own existence, he imagines him saying“At least I’ve galloped—when have you?”
EQUUS TO OCT. 2 AT SEGAL CENTRE FOR PERFORMING ARTS (5170 CÔTE-STECATHERINE).BOX OFFICE: (514) 739-7944, SEGALCENTRE.ORG