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Dec 16, 2009

stephanie rated it:

i am a little sad that the play was recast with daniel radcliffe, as i feel that everyone now associates this brilliant, brilliant work with naked harry potter and a horse.

this is so much more than that. this is one of the greatest works of drama (and psychology) i think ever written. we read this my senior year of high school, in my ap lit course, with mr. hackling (one of my favorite teachers ever). and we read it in conjunction with our philosophy of religion course, so that we h More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Sep 19, 2008

Lizzie rated it:

This play has sat on my shelf for eight years after getting it for a dollar at a theater flea market. (It's a Samuel French edition, but from London; the size is all wrong and the paper is all funny.) It seemed like a good idea at the time, since coming out of high school I self-educated myself in playwriting by simply reading every play I'd heard of. Heard of this one! But then I just sat there with it. A couple Saturdays ago I pulled it down to read. The play is getting a lot of press ri More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Ryan rated it:

I don't care if it took Harry Potter to disrobe for people to finally see this masterwork. This is without a doubt my favorite play from one of my favorite playwrights. Like most great works, it conflates several dichotomies without leaning too heavily on any of them. Adolescene v. adulthood? Check. Urban v. Rural? Check. Rationalism v. Romanticism? Check. A teenage boy blinding six horses in a fit of psychosexual mania? Check.

There's whispers the London production's coming statesid More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Leigh rated it:

Trust me: it's not just that play about Harry Potter getting (a) naked and (b) it on with a horse. It's about the construction of God and meaning in the modern waste land; and perhaps even more compellingly, about the moral dilemma of a therapist who has to convince his patient to abandon all escape routes and return to the waste land. (In that sense, it reminds me a great deal of Pat Barker's Regeneration.) It's a play of ideas, basically, only thinly veiled by its outrageous subject matter More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 23, 2008

Baiocco rated it:

Is it even possible to discuss Equus anymore without considering Harry Potter's wang? Were there conversations that existed about this strange, psychological, pre Law and Order play that didn't include a nude Daniel Radcliffe and horses? I never even saw the play but it was impossible to walk down a city block on the west side of Manhatten without seeing posters of that hilarious extra from the show "Extras" staring blankly at any passerby, arms outstretched christ-on-a-cross-like More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2012

Osama rated it:

هذه المسرحيه مبنيه على واقعه حقيقيه -وهى ان ولد يعمل فى اسطبل خيول فقأ عيون 6 احصنه -- هذا كل ما عمله بيتر شافر من خبر وبني عليه فكره المسرحيه واستغله --الله وحده اعلم حقيقه التي وراء الخبر ويمكن لو كان بيتر شافر علم بالتفاصيل ماكانت ظهرت هذه الرائعه من تحت يديه التى اصبحت من كلاسيكيات المسرح الانجليزي - انا بحب المسرحية دي جدا -- هى كمسرحيه مسرح حديث فى وقتها وكانت مختلفه بعض الشيئ فى عرضها المسرحي لكن انا عندي النص المكتوب والفكره هى الاهم - قرأت هذه المسرحيه العديد من المرات حتى حفظتها اتذكر More...

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Mar 21, 2011

Becky rated it:

This was the first play I've really read since college, and WOW. I couldn't put it down. Peter Shaffer, perhaps best known for "Amadeus," heard in passing a horrific story of a crime committed against horses. It stuck in his brain and compelled him -- "I had to create a mental world in which the deed could be made comprehensible." In his presentation of the teen boy Alan and his world, I think he succeeded, creating a dark story on a minimal stage that draws from religion, ch More...

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Mar 20, 2011

Tamara rated it:

I was impressed by the three-dimensional nature of this one. The different layers the author was able to create to make this more than just a flat stage play were hard to imagine through reading, but I got enough of a taste of it that I would love to see it performed, even with the harrowing & distressing nature of the crime.

Would be quite interesting to pair with Spring Awakening.

Interesting side note: This guy wrote Amadeus.

Favorite Quotes:

Lo More...

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May 31, 2010

Denise rated it:

In a play including a character as complex as Alan Strang, who is sucking the cream off of a horse’s neck in one moment, and blinding six with a metal spike in the next, Peter Shaffer makes it an adventure for his readers to focus on the meat of his play. Equus, based on an actual crime that occurred in London, follows the psychoanalysis of a deranged youth who commits a heinous act against six horses, but it is the revelations of his psychiatrist, Dr. Martin Dysart, that emanate the play’s tru More...

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Mar 31, 2010

Aimee rated it:

"Can you think of anything worse one can do to anybody than take away their worship? ...I don't. I only know it's the core of his life. What else has he got? Think about him. He can hardly read. He knows no physics or engineering to make the world real for him. No paintings to show him how others have enjoyed it. No music except television jingles. No history except tales from a desperate mother. No friends. Not one kid to give him a joke, or make him know himself more moderately. He's a mo More...

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Apr 27, 2009

Martina rated it:

This book, or better, play, was...different. In a quite weird, but also positive way. I found myself raising my eyebrows quite a lot through the play, because it was so weird and I didn't understand it til I'd read the ending.
The beginning is extremely confusing, because there is this particular scene, where Alan and his mother quote the bible as fast as if they were playing ping-pong and I didn't understand anything at all. What do they want?, I asked myself.
But every scene you get More...

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Jun 10, 2010

Misha rated it:

Equus has been a favourite for several years. I’ve read the play countless times, saw the same production two nights in a row, and watched the film version with Richard Burton. It’s one of the few plays that never gets stale, there's always something new.

A teenage boy undergoes therapy after committing a crime on the basis that "what the eye does not see, the heart does not grieve over". How and why could he do such a thing? That’s for the psychiatrist and audience to find More...

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Sep 21, 2010

Samantha rated it:

Peter Shaffer once heard a story of a locale boy in the English countryside that went around one night and blinded six horses for no apparent reason. This tale inspired his work "Equus."

"Equus" is a play following a teenage boy by the name of Alan Strang who stands accused of committing such a heinous crime. The play is told through the research of Alan's psychologist Dr. Dysart. Dr. Dysart's sessions are showed with Alan as he slowly begins to trust the doctor More...

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Oct 01, 2011

Ali rated it:

(Very minor spoilers). I love works that try to make you sympathize with the villain, rather than making them out to be barely human monsters, as so many books and movies tend to do. I can't help but think it's mostly laziness on the part of the creators. It's easier to create someone who, as the main character in Peter Shaffer's play, hurts animals in a fit of insanity and leave it at that, letting the audience mindlessly hate him, than it is to create a villain and really dig into his motives, More...

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Nov 15, 2011

Adam rated it:

Being a psychology junky, this play really hit home as Dr Martin Dysart psychoanalyzes Alan and tries to discover why he blinded nine horses in an act of inhumanity. What Alan really does is to have Dr Dysart look within himself and actually sympathize with Alan. During the last scene, he understands that Allen has a sexual/religious passion for horses due to many events. Instead of wanting to cure Allen, he actually feels jealous of Allen's passion and wishes he still had passion for life like More...

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Jul 17, 2008

Andy rated it:

Nightmarish play about a disturbed 17-year old stable boy who's awful with the girls but loves the horses more. He ends up racing about naked in the middle of the night and blinds the horses. Homo-eroticism blends in with angry punk energy UK style to create a play both sexy and horrifying.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 28, 2009

Rory M. rated it:

I saw bits & pieces of this movie when it first came out & very recently picked the play up at a library sale. I was prompted to read it because of a book club I am part of - we were challenged to read outside our normal genre.

Scripts are unique in that they require so much more from their reader. You have to consider the stage directions very seriously & put real effort into envisioning the playwright’s vision.

Equus was so well done that I found I was flying through More...

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Sep 16, 2009

Jim rated it:

Back in the 70s I saw the Sidney Lumet film version of this play and was bowled over by Richard Burton and Peter Firth. As I remember, the audience stumbled out of the theatre in stunned silence. (And yes, at that point, the full frontal nudity was shocking: it worked exactly as Shaffer hoped it would, I'd guess.)

Recently I decided to read the script, which is sparer than the film. Thirty years later the play's tortured psychological revelations do feel a bit dated, but Equus is stil More...

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Nov 24, 2008

Hales rated it:

I will admit that I had my biases against this book the first time I heard that I was going to be assigned it for one of my college English classes. I had heard things that I didn't find appealing about this book, and as such, I didn't want to read it. However, it sounds worse that it is, and it quickly became one of my favorite books. The play is wel written, and leaves readers asking questions even when the play ends. It's one of those that you find yourself not wanting to close, or maybe t More...

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Aug 07, 2011

Jahanara rated it:

I recently finished Equus by Peter Shaffer, and I already regard it as one of the best plays I've ever read. I'm not ashamed to say that I saw it a few years ago, mainly because Daniel Radcliffe was naked in it. Looking back, I think the most powerful part of the production was probably the horses; their physicality and movements were a visual masterpiece.

I was worried that seeing the play before reading it would taint its beauty, but instead, it allowed me to picture the the set and the horses.

More...

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Dec 12, 2011

Yasmine rated it:

I am sure over half of my classmates won't believe their eyes, seeing I am giving this four stars. After all, this is not a play that would generally be appreciated by ordinary horse lovers. Most probably, many would prefer to avoid it.
Unfortunately though, I ended up holding it in my hands as it was on the list of books-to-buy for the new school year. Sooner or later, I had to leaf its pages.
I will begin by saying that I never came across a play like this one before. In this play, a v More...

2 comments like

Apr 16, 2009

Anne rated it:

For me, another modern classic lost and now regained. There's no doubt that this is a disturbing play about the boundaries of sanity and passion. It is also about society and judgement. Who is the ultimate judge of human behaviour? Equus is brilliantly built through a non-linear puzzle construct to reveal that underneath all the disguises that humans wear, we may all be just the same. I felt vast empathy for all the characters - Alan, Dysart, Frank, Dora, and even Jill as each struggled with his More...

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Sep 22, 2011

John rated it:

Psychiatrist Martin Dysart is almost sleeping walking through middle-age on the downward slope to his twilight years. His marriage is passionless and empty. He goes to work at the hospital every day and helps the patients in his care.
At the behest of his friend, Hester Salomon, a magistrate disturbed by the case of Alan Strang, a young man who’s been arrested for blinding six horses, Martin agrees to take him on as his patient and becomes embroiled in discovering Alan’s motivations for hi More...

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Mar 25, 2011

planetkiller rated it:

Shaffer's "Equus" is a fascinating play. It deals with notions of religion, passion, what is "normal," and whether it's truly worth it to be normal. This forms the crux of the play far more than Dysart's attempts to figure out what is wrong with Alan.

Shaffer also introduces film techniques, such as flashbacks and intercutting, to tell his story. It works really well here and keeps the pace moving along.

There are some violent and sexual imagery in the p More...

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Feb 17, 2011

Bernadette rated it:

One of the English classes in my school is reading this, and the majority of the people I knew said it was fabulous. That, along with goodreads, and I knew I had to read it. Completely and totally blown away - I heard a bit about the play due to Dan Radcliffe being in it, but I never knew it would be this fabulous. I wish it had been longer - and I really want to see this performed! Gave me the chills, this play, but in a good way. So glad I read it!

Much thanks to Sara P.'s review for More...

1 comment like

Mar 29, 2010

Liren rated it:

The Normal is the good smile in a child's eyes:-alright. It is also the dead stare in a million adults. It both sustains and kills-like a god. It is the Ordinary made beautiful: it is also the Average made lethal. The Normal is the indispensable, murderous God of Health, and I am his priest. My tools are very delicate. My compassion is honest. I have honestly assisted children in this room. I have talked away terrors and relieved many agonies. But also-beyond question-I have cut from th More...

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Oct 30, 2009

Lindsey rated it:

I read it in one sitting, not only because it is so short, but because you truly cannot wait to see how this story unfolds. I am going to try to write this without spoinling anything. I will tell you that it is about a boy named Alan Strange who you first meet when he is sent to an institution for disturbed youth. He is being treated by a phychiatrist there and you discover in the first few minutes of the play that Alan is charged withblinding six horses with a metal spike.

There is a More...

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Apr 19, 2009

Kelly rated it:

Read this years ago in college and forgot about it. Read it again because I saw it in NYC recently. I understand the play is really about Dysart's lost passion and his frustration of society stealing and corrupting Strang's passion; however, I feel as if the play is written for men. It's male indulgence and whining that life expects them to be providers and mature and the only way to do that is to have all of their passion sucked out of them. Gee, I think women could claim this as well if they w More...

2 comments like

Jan 19, 2012

Fox rated it:

I've been meaning to read this book for years - since 2008, apparently. I picked this one up last year, and finally got around to reading it. Four years to read a book - quite a while, innit?

Anyroad, I'm not entirely certainw hat I thought I'd be getting into. My impressions of the book were largely gleaned from disillusioned Harry Potter fans (How could Radcliffe do this??) and confused media reviews about a play with bestiality at its center. Well, the script was nothing like t More...

2 comments like

Sep 18, 2008

Christia rated it:

Hmmm - I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. Since I won't be able to see the play that I keep hearing so much about, I thought I'd read it, and although I knew the general plot, (which concerns in part the relationship between the psychiatrist Dr. Dysart and Alan, an adolescent boy he treats following the boy's initially inexplicable blinding of 6 horses at the stable where he works), I wasn't sure quite what to expect. I'll have to admit, I was a little disappointed. I can certainl More...

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