Theater review
'Equus' shattering script provides powerful drama
By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic
Peter Shaffer's powerful issue play, "Equus," is the current offering by The Actors Group — the tiny theater in Kaka'ako that continues to produce big plays in a small space. This one doesn't just emotionally explode — it skyrockets.
• Where: The Actors Group • When: Through Nov. 11. Thursdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 4 p.m. • Tickets: $10 • Information: 591-7999
The playwright was inspired by the actual court case of an English stable boy arrested for blinding six horses on a single night with a hoof pick. Shaffer turns it into a psychological struggle between the boy and the court-appointed psychiatrist who treats him.
•
'Equus'
The issue balances commonplace normalcy against pagan fury, and draws an uneasy bargain that eliminates pain at the cost of rare ecstacy. The argument is wonderfully articulated in the dialogue — which grabs us with strong characterizations, then wrings us out emotionally and intellectually.
Brad Powell directs, and manages once again to expand the show far beyond the available square feet. He's remarkably assisted by Eric Nemoto and Noah Johnson in the central roles.
Nemoto has the right take on the psychiatrist, making him a dangerously flawed professional whose self-questioning puts his competence in peril. Swimming in a calm sea of bland normalcy, he envies the boy's wild and primitive freedom. He knows he can treat the young man, but at a cost to both their souls.
Johnson plays the stable boy with pathological distraction, hungering for help but afraid to give up the pleasurable pain he feels in his identification with the animal.
In his wild confusion, the horse becomes his lover, his saviour, and ultimately his judge. Their passion is bright, but dangerous and short-lived.
This central conflict plays out strongly, but not without some difficulties in performance.
Nemoto loses chunks of dialogue in a torrent of words, an uncomfortable English accent, and a losing battle with an air-conditioner. Dorothy Stamp and Frances Enos have the same problem in supporting roles. This shouldn't happen in a playing space that holds an audience of 40, where no one is more than three seats from the action.
But Johnson, Hayden Yates and Devon Leigh are intelligible; the problem could be reduced with sharper voice work and careful blocking.
Kurt Wurmli's masks give the horses a striking presence, and Todd Middleton's turntable set is used to good effect in the climactic night ride that closes the first act.
"Equus" is good theater, but don't go expecting to be comfortable. The Yellow Brick Studio is crowded and warm and this script will give you a mental workout.
