Review of Loft Theatre Company production of Equus (2011)

Does it stand the test of time? Emphatically yes.

Peter Shaffer’s award-winning play blazed new trails in exploring the psyche in the 1970s. Its conclusions and revelations about mental and emotional frailty are every bit as relevant today – and the physical challenges of mounting such a piece and keeping it fresh remain enormous.

Director Gus MacDonald here achieves a visually stunning and remarkably eloquent production. His technical and design team deliver soundtrack and back-projection effects which brilliantly complement the play’s essential human/horse head creations and enable the dramatic theme to unfold with clarity and credibility.

To analyse the key roles of the psychiatrist Dysart and the youth who has committed an act of appalling savagery, nothing can be faulted in the work of Phil Reynolds and David Tennyson. They needle their way into the characters and superbly convey the irony of reversing roles as Dysart succumbs to frustration and his own repressions in uncovering the boy’s growing awareness of sexual release.

Underlying their voyages of discovery are the powerful trappings of classical Greek tragedy mirrored by the youth’s unfettered actions and the mythical images of Dysart’s dreams. These are stunningly written and the ominous passions are captured by both actors with great skill. Only in the extended first act does the play show any hint of slightly dated over-writing.

The production as a whole is finely accentuated by the support playing of Rob Wootton and Angie Collins as the aggrieved and defensive parents and Kate Willis as Dysart’s confidante, increasingly bewildered by his emotional collapse. And Sarah Sambrook brings a touching simplicity to the stable girl who becomes a catalyst for the boy’s final self-realisation.

This indeed marks a welcome return by the Loft to its rightful status as a top-class local theatre.

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Peter McGarry is an experienced, independent professional theatre critic who has agreed to review Loft Theatre Company productions.

The agreement with the Loft is that Peter is free to express his opinions for good or ill. The Loft Theatre Company has no control whatsoever over the content of these reviews and will never comment publicly on what he writes.