Equus

Bareback Scandal The play Equus was written by Peter Shaffer in 1973, and opened the same year. Since then it has been adapted for film, and has been revived for the stage. In 2007 it was reset with a famous British cast. It is interesting to compare the critical response of the original production and the revival. There aren’t very many reviews left of the original because it was 30 years ago, and they did not have as much media coverage back then. For the revival, however, there are a lot of reviews. The 1970s reviews primarily attention is on the content of the play itself, where as the media concerning the 2000s revival mainly focuses on Daniel Radcliffe. This later media attention concentrates less on the play, and more on the scandal…

The play “Equus” by Peter Shaffer and the short story “Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka both demonstrate alienation in the two main characters. Alan Strang in “Equus” becomes isolated from society and his family because of an extreme passion for horses, while Gregor Samsa in “Metamorphosis” is a character who has inherently isolated himself his whole life and he somehow becomes more isolated when he turns into a bug overnight. Both Alan and Gregor go through their estrangement in strikingly similar…

In Peter Shaffer’s Equus, the plot revolves around seventeen year-old Alan Strang’s obsession with horses, culminating in his blinding six horses in one night. Despite committing this terrible crime, Alan is not inherently a bad person; instead, he is the victim of social taboos surrounding religion and sexuality as enforced by his parents and social heterosexual expectations as represented by Jill. Furthermore, no one will hold these people and concepts accountable for their actions. This…

In Peter Shaffer’s Equus, the plot revolves around seventeen year-old Alan Strang’s obsession with horses, culminating in his blinding six horses in one night. Despite committing this terrible crime, Alan is not inherently a bad person; instead, he is the victim of social taboos surrounding religion and sexuality as enforced by his parents and social heterosexual expectations as represented by Jill. Furthermore, no one will hold these people and concepts accountable for their actions. This…

I am not a troubled teen with behavioral issues and an unsettled past. Of course, ive had my fair share of depressing situations throughout my life, just as anyone else. However, I dont beileve that someone needs to have a traumatic life or a regretful past to go through any type of emotional therapy. For those who genrealy have an optimistic attitude, emotional therapy can still create a more focused and stress free mind. I know this because I have experienced a completely new unique way of…

The play Equus is a unique story, to say the least. The visual and sensory aspect of the play is very interesting because of its many layers like playing with the actors and the audience’s placement on stage, the stage itself, the lights, the sounds and the costumes. This play also has many different themes and it makes the reader and\or audience question many common beliefs and perceptions about life and people. The setting and the meaning of the production are very connected and depend on each…

Eohippus of the Eocene period, and modern Equus can been seen in the feet and limbs of each and through the many related species also in the family tree. As previously mentioned, the Eohippus was a small creature with short, but sturdy limbs with four toes…

Religion is a big theme portrayed in Peter Shaffer’s Equus and Kosinski’s The Painted Bird. Both materials show the way religion can cause problems or distress in the main characters. The play and novel both depict the after effects of religion in a negative way, rather than a positive way. The Painted Bird and Equus both similarly and contrastingly show religion’s role in the main characters’ lives. In Peter Shaffer’s Equus, the main character Alan, attacks and blinds horses because of this…

Peter Shaffer’s 1973 text Equus explores a range of concepts through the gradual awakening of central character Martin Dysart. Shaffer conveys ideas such as the importance of truth, and the gap between the life lived and life imagined for oneself, through symbolism, characterisation, monologues and the stagecraft of the text. It is these ideas that respectively shape Dysart’s unwilling acceptance of the passionless life he live, and develop the broader theme of questioning where meaning is…

Hello Mr. Peters, After reading the “Note On The Play” as well as “Equus” itself, I believe that Equus is effective in creating a fictional world in which the crime could be portrayed in a way that the audience could both understand and strive to analyze. By itself, the news of a highly disturbed man blinding six horses is straightforward and dark. Individuals who hear about this crime wonder what motivated the criminal, but they usually attribute the act to the criminal’s mental state and…