EQUUS Hits The Stage In Australia, Previewing 9/12-9/14

Perth Theatre Company and His Majesty's Theatre present an Australian exclusive, EQUUS by Sir Peter Shaffer, with previews September 12-14, and opening September 15 through 26. Sir Peter Shaffer's seminal work is presented in Perth in startling new light for the first time in over thirty years. EQUUS rocked the conservative majority when it stampeded the London stage in 1973, prompting outrage and awe in equal measure. Today it remains as potent, confronting and astounding as ever.

A not-to-be missed event, an intimate drama of epic proportions, EQUUS uncovers our darkest secrets and deepest desires as Shaffer weaves a masterful thread through humanity, a thread that binds us all and draws us closer to the truth of who and what we really are. A psychiatrist is transformed by his patient, a boy is transformed by his passion and the waking world is transformed by our dreams.

EQUUS is the powerful and provocative story of a stable boy and a psychiatrist who seek to understand the sexual and religious mystery that leads to a climactic and unbelievable event. Revived in 2007, and not professionally produced outside London's West End and New York's Broadway theatre districts for nearly 30 years, multi-award winning EQUUS is a contemporary classic.

"One weekend I was driving with a friend through the bleak countryside. We passed a stable.
Suddenly he was reminded by it of an alarming crime, which he had heard about recently at a
dinner party in London. He knew only one horrible detail, and his complete mention of it could barely
have lasted a minute - but it was enough to arouse in me an intense fascination..." Sir Peter Shaffer

Perth Theatre Company received the exclusive southern hemisphere rights for EQUUS through direct negotiation with West End producers David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, who had restricted the
international rights for commercial presentation for the past decade.

Perth Theatre Company's General Manager Tony Bonney says "this is an amazing once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to present what is undeniably one of the greatest plays of the twentieth century. EQUUS will be the most notable event in the Australian Theatre calendar this year. This is a coup for Perth Theatre Company - a southern hemisphere exclusive presented at His Majesty's Theatre, the best drama theatre in the country. The fact we have this opportunity over far larger companies across the country is testament to The company's commitment to text-based theatre."

Rodney Phillips, General Manager of His Majesty's Theatre added that he was "delighted that our initiative to successfully present Amadeus by Sir Peter Shaffer at His Majesty's Theatre in association with our colleagues at the Perth Theatre Company in 2006, has led to our further joint production of EQUUS for 2009. We promise a theatrical tour de force to Perth audiences in September!"

EQUUS will star William McInnes (SeaChange, Blue Heelers, Unfinished Sky), one of Australia's most popular stage and screen actors, in the pivotal role as psychiatrist Martin Dysart and the extraordinarily talented Khan Chittenden (Dangerous, Clubland, All Saints, Packed to the Rafters) as stable boy Alan Strang, with choreography from Queensland's Gavin Webber (Dance North, Underground, Roadkill, Lawn). Khan filmed his first US based film Endless Bummer last year in Ventura, California.

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