Equus, Peter Schaffer

The first 200 words of this essay...

GCSE Drama Coursework:

Equus

The play "Equus" by Peter Schaffer investigates ideas of faith, passion, violence, and adolescent sexuality. Schaffer was inspired to write the play after hearing a true story; a crime involving a teenage boy's seemingly motiveless violence and injury to horses. Equus is a fictional account of what Schaffer believes could have happened before the incident, helping to explain the psychology and reasoning behind the boy's mysterious and disturbing crime. Equus follows closely the character of 17 - year-old boy Alan Strang, but also his psychiatrist, Martin Dysart. In this piece of writing, I plan to explain how we explored the play of Equus in a variety of different activities within our drama class.

Response

The play opens with Martin Dysart, the psychiatrist, performing a soliloquy that introduces the main themes of the play. Scene one is devoted entirely to this speech, which shows its importance and vitality. We learn much about Dysart from this speech. For example, the line "All reined up in old/language and old assumptions" illustrates how he feels trapped and frustrated in his life. In addition, he says, "I'm desperate" which shows his exhaustion and frustration.