Equus – Norwich Playhouse
Writer: Peter Shaffer
Director:Michael Cabot
Reviewer: Lu Greer
The Public Reviews Rating: 
Equus, Peter Shaffer’s story of a psychologist’s investigation into why a young boy blinds six horses, has recently come back into the public eye due to its London run with Daniel Radcliff staring as the boy, Alan Strang. London Classic Theatre’s current touring version then has some rather large shoes to fill, and it doesn’t disappoint.
Matthew Pattimore, as Alan, is captivating as he portrays every aspect of the character with a natural ease – from staring blankly at Doctor Dysart (Malcolm James) whilst singing the Milky Bar kid song, to finally collapsing and crying under the weight of what he has done.
Martin Dysart, a crucial role, acting as an almost narrator in drawing together all of the characters, could fall flat acting across from a performance as powerful as that from Matthew Pattimore, but Malcolm James fills the role beautifully, making the audience feel Dysart’s pain as he reflects upon his own miserable, almost a-sexual existence, and his shock as he realises that he is envious of Alan’s disturbing feelings towards the horses that he adores.
The most exciting thing in this show however, is the impressive, and indeed rather clever, set design by Kerry Bradley. Firstly, watching over the entire stage is a window, clearly inspired by the round rose windows found in churches, with a cross through the centre and hay around the edge, very subtly shows the main premise of the entire show- Alan’s disturbing relationship between religion and horses.
The show is enclosed in a half circle of benches, reminiscent of those in the Grecian world which Dysart makes frequent references to, and the of the strong cast act as onlookers when not in the centre of the circle forming the story. These onlookers are also joined by the six blinded horses, which are in reality just masks on poles, but after just a few minutes of the performance, thanks to some very clever lighting tricks from Paul Green, become judgemental onlookers. These horses are also used as the masks of the men portraying the horses (Aidan Downing and Jamie Matthewman) and still don’t lose their effect, with some beautiful touches from these men, particularly Aidan Downing, whom holds perfect lines with his legs, which really do transform him into the horse.
Even the occasional fluffed line doesn’t detract at all from this performance, and from just a few moments into this performance the audience feels themselves drawn into the semi-circle, sharing every feeling along with the cast.
The story of Equus is so compelling, not just because of the near-faultless cast, and inspiring set, but because of what it is they’re portraying- as Equus does what very few other plays can – it doesn’t ask how Alan blinds his beloved horses, but instead takes us on a sometimes amusing, often harrowing, and more than anything moving, journey of why.
Runs until 21st September in Norwich as part of a national tour running until 27 November
Tags: Aidan Downing, Anna Kirke, Carole Dance, Equus, Helen Phillips, Jamie Matthewman, Kerry Bradley, London Classic Theatre, Malcolm James, Matthew Pattimore, Michael Cabot, Norwich Playhouse, Paul Green, Peter Shaffer, Steve Dineen
