Review: EQUUS at Bakehouse Theatre

Reviewed by JoAnne Hartstone, Saturday 12th November 2016

Equus, written by Peter Shaffer in 1973, tells the story of Psychiatrist Martin Dysart who attempts to treat a 17-year-old boy who blinds six horses in a sexually fuelled religious frenzy. Alan Strang, the young man, had developed a personal theology involving the divine being, Equus, that lives within all horses. Dysart becomes something of a detective, trying to unravel and explain Alan's behaviour whilst wrestling with his own lack of religious worship and sense of purpose. The play, often performed with scenes fluidly melting into each other in a dream-like, symbolic structure, directly addresses the themes of ritual sacrifice, sex, religious worship, mental illness and familial relationships.

The play is so perfectly written that it is almost impossible to get wrong, as long as there are a few key elements in the productions that are well executed. Unfortunately, Adapt Enterprises' production fails to do justice to the iconic script because of these missing elements.

Adapt's production of Equus appears to be a passion project of Ross Vosvotekas, who not only produces for Adapt Enterprises, but also directed the show and plays Dysart. This self-casting is wrong; not overlooking the age discrepancy (the character Dysart is a few years off retirement and the actor Vosvotekas is in his 30's), Vosvotekas simply does not have the acting chops to be able to play Dysart convincingly. His portrayal had no sense of discovery, no desire to find passion and worship within his own existence, and very little emotional range at all. Vosvotekas's Dysart was calm and all-knowing, but where was his journey? Where was his internal struggle? This alone meant the production missed half of the point of the play. Despite greying his beard and hair with stage makeup, Vosvotekas appeared to be barely older than Alan Strang (played by Ben Gatehouse) and brought minimal strength to the leading role. Had someone more suitable been cast as Dysart, the production might have been of a higher quality.

By contrast, Ben Gatehouse was a convincing Alan Strang. His portrayal had a twisted innocence and lustful drive that made the production more bearable to watch. However, perhaps due to misdirection, Gatehouse lacked chemistry with his onstage lover, Jill Mason, played by Olivia Fairweather. The scene in which the two attempt a sexual relationship was hurried, awkward and lacking any of the exploratory action that makes Strang attack the horses. It is the guilt from this sexual encounter that makes Strang lash out in a violent attack against his horse God, but the action preceding the guilt was missing from the scene.

The set design also required more consideration and attention. Dysart's office desk and liquor cabinet was dressed suitably for the era, but the rest of the onstage furniture was extremely questionable. The bed was made from a black table, about a foot too short for the undressed mattress laid on top. The bedding was a blue and white checked picnic blanket, with no base sheets and a single pillow. Where were the hints of hospital linen, or the Strang family's spendthrift bedding? The makeshift bed was sloppy and unrefined, and very amateur. Similarly, two garden benches (not matching) were used as cast holding seats at the back of the stage. Why these benches? There was no purpose to their garden wood design, merely that their size was appropriate. Surely black benches would have been more appropriate and given less of a slap-dash finish. The set design was again by Ross Vosvotekas, and it was sloppy. It added nothing to the performance and overlooked the necessary semiotic messages that a good set design adds to a quality production.

A saving grace was the video projection of 1970's television clips, including images of a rolling beach and scenes from the TV show 'Mr Ed'. This was a nice addition, and showed thoughtful planning. It was somewhat distracting to watch Mr Ed in the middle of a play, but the action on the stage was not gripping enough to maintaIn Focus. It was mostly forgotten in the second half of the show, but the poster image was shown throughout with the horse's eyes turning red at the appropriate time.

If you have never seen Equus before, it is worthwhile seeing this production at the Bakehouse, as the story is still strong enough to battle the poor production values. However, if you are already a fan of Shaffer's epic play, this production will be a severe disappointment and you should not waste your money.

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