Taliesin Arts Centre.

he is taking away from him his worship and sexual vitality- both of which are missing in the doctor's own personal life. We slowly discover Mr. Dysart actually envies Alan and the sexual worship he has experienced. As Dysart exposes the truths behind the boy's demons, he finds himself face-to-face with his own. The play is centered on symbolic use of masks and staging. The set, sound, costumes and solid performances of the actors all contributed in making the performance a stimulating one, but also one that provoked the audience to explore and examine issues such as obsession, mental illness, religion and sexuality. The superb cast contributed a great deal to the performance, in particular the exceptional performance of one of the main characters, Martin Dysart. Nick Richards, as Dr. Dysart, wonderfully portrayed the character's inner conflict. He specifically conveyed Dysart's growing discontent with particular elements of his life including his work and marriage, so that we clearly understood the origin of his envy. While Richards occasionally addressed the audience, we always felt that we were actively involved in his recollection of Alan’s treatment. Richards made Dr. Dysart very controlled in his movement which helped to suggest his upper class upbringing. One distracting element of his performance was his inclination to rush his final monologue as it was rather wordy and parts were missed. Alan Strang was played successfully, and Superbly by Jordan Piles (he was fucking awesome) who clearly represented Alan’s obsession with the horse in an exceptionally challenging role. His use of twisted movement allowed us to have an insight into Alan’s mind. Both gave incredibly moving and powerful performances. Their relationship onstage was extremely convincing and their performances complimented each others style. The set design has remained fairly true to the original script but has been updated to give the play a more modern appearance. A large, square, wooden rotating stage put a ring around the majority of the action and provided a functional way to divide scenes. The large mythological looking horse masks positioned in lines in front of the people playing the horses almost appeared to glow, which made a striking feature. In the background a huge, black, the background was simply a plain black brick wall, which added to the atmosphere and made us feel as if the play was taking place in side a barn, The main focal point in my opinion was the larger horse skull, this positioned on a large pole, towards the back of the stage it was made out a metal, sculpted to look like the skull of the horse, the mask had no eye giving a chilling representation of the atrocity Alan committed. The choice of staging was practical and aided the performance, and the backdrop contributed effectively to the mood and atmosphere of the play. The lighting design by Adrian Hocking was minimalist in approach, but still managed to create a mysterious and disturbing environment. White lights where projected onto the main playing stage and the floor at the back, this revealed the ‘Equus chorus’ behind it, which looked eerie and captivating. Spotlights highlighted key moments in the play, such as when Alan and Jill, the provocative girl who seduced him, were in the barn together. Red light which signifies danger was used when Alan was blinding the horses; this added an extremely eerie and frightening atmosphere. The lights assisted in making the actors stand out more, but were basically kept simple. Powerful sound and lighting aided in the effect of the eye-piercing scene, accompanied by members of the company letting out piercing screams, bold flashing lights and loud dramatic music and sound effects combined to achieve a terrifying, thrilling climactic scene. Costumes were simple, yet suitable. The costumes that stood out the most were the Equus chorus’ who were all horses. In the original script it specifies that the horses must wear track-suits of chestnut velvet, and West Glamorgan Youth Theatres interpretation of this was outstanding, and was extremely effective. The proud, prancing, witnessing horses were boldly masked with wire framed helmets, allowing the actors own face to be seen. Large metal shoes, representing hooves made an alarming noise as they clomped on the wooden stage, adding to the supernatural atmosphere. West Glamorgan youth theatre has given this dramatic event a respectable and solid showing making the performance of “Equus” an emotionally taxing and fascinating play. “Equus” explores questions about what is “normal” and to what extent society will go to normalize people (or to lock them away somewhere if they can't be normalized). When “Equus” gallops away he leaves you questioning the existence of passion and exuberance in your own life. West Glamorgan Youth Theatre Company’s performance was solid and hauntingly conveyed the central message of Shaffer's most acclaimed work- passion for one's worship, in whatever form that worship manifests itself.