Abingdon Drama Club production

DIRECTING a version of Peter Shaffer’s once-controversial play Equus will fulfil a long-held ambition for Abingdon Drama Club’s Andrea Mardon. Now considered a modern masterpiece, the 40-year-old story of a teenager sentenced to psychiatric treatment for blinding four horses is being staged by the dramatic group next month. Speaking to the Herald, Andrea said: “I’ve always loved Peter Shaffer’s work. The first play of his I read was Amadeus and I was struck how it read like a thriller, you couldn’t put it down until you’d finished it. “Equus is the same. It’s a compelling story told with such sensitivity. It’s a page turner.” With the drama club following the tradition of staging the play in the round, the audience at the Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon, will find themselves seated on the stage close to the action. However, unlike some professional productions, there is no nudity in this version, although its themes still make it unsuitable for children under 13. Andrea said: “I was also compelled to do Equus because I believe it to be a somewhat misunderstood play. “It has a history of controversy for its nudity, most famous in recent years to Harry Potter fans as ‘the play where Daniel Radcliffe gets his kit off’. It is often crudely described in this manner; either as a play about bestiality or about a young boy who fancies horses. “To describe Equus only in terms of its sexual themes does it such a disservice. Equus is a rich and complex play not about deviance but about commonalities, longings which we all share; the need for intimacy, the quest for spirituality and the ever-present existential angst which questions our purpose on this planet.” Newcomer Lawley Barnett takes the leading role of 17-year-old Alan Strang who is held to account for blinding the horses at the stables where he works with a hoof pick. And, as psychiatrist Dr Martin Dysart, played by Jon Crowley, tries to understand the motivation for the crime, he begins to question his profression, also grappling with the realms of sex and religion. Taking the parts of Alan’s parents, Frank and Dora, are Adam Blake and Lynne Smith, with Rosie Hunt as Jill Mason and stables owner Harry Dalton played by Robert Rees. Making up the cast are Lin Beekar as magistrate Hester Salomon, Maria Crocker as the nurse, and Catherine Huckstep, Liz Adams and Robert Rees as horses.