By Annette Hinkle
In 1973, Peter Shaffer’s play “Equus” premiered in London. At the time, the story of Alan Strang, a deranged 17-year old stable hand who blinds six horses in a fit of religious and sexual fervor, and Dr. Martin Dysart, the psychiatrist who tries to unravel his motives, caused quite a stir both abroad and in the U.S. — not only because of the play’s on stage nudity, but due to its controversial exploration of the psychiatric realm as well. Shaffer explains that the script was based on an actual news item he had heard about in England, and recently, the play again caused a stir when a young Daniel Radcliffe (a.k.a. Harry Potter) starred as Strang in London and on Broadway.
But when “Equus” comes to the John Drew Theater at Guild Hall on June 8, it won’t need to gallop in on Radcliffe’s coattails and audiences aren’t likely to confuse it with previous versions. That’s because this production, which is directed by Tony Walton, comes with its own star power — Alec Baldwin in the role of Dr. Martin Dysart and Sam Underwood as young Alan Strang. Last week, the key players offered a press conference at Guild Hall to talk about the new show. Long-time “Equus” fans might be surprised to learn that playwright Peter Shaffer has even stepped in to do some minor literary revisions for this production of his famous play.
“There’s something tedious for me watching people do my work, and it’s new to them,” says Shaffer. “I wanted something new to me. I always vaguely thought about alternative versions in various tiny ways — there’s not an enormous rewrite in the play.”
“But there is a core shift that is fascinating,” adds Walton.
"I haven’t arrived with an entirely different script,” assures Shaffer. “I just wanted to try little things along the path. With the talented cast in front of me I’d be a fool to rewrite it.”
For Alec Baldwin, playing the role of Dysart has long been a desire. When they couldn’t get the rights to “The Front Page,” the play he and Walton initially considered for the John Drew stage this summer, Walton recalls asking if there were any other roles that might interest Baldwin.
“Tony and I wanted to do a show here and talk was more toward summer fare. Then he said, ‘What have you always wanted to do?’ I said I always wanted to do ‘Equus,’” recalls Baldwin. Luckily, Walton and Shaffer have known each other since 1958. “Within days we were at his dining room table with Peter. No one said what we were doing. Tony and I were positioning Peter to maybe give us the rights to do the play.”
“This is a play that I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and Peter’s plays are considered some of the best of the last 50 or 60 years — whether it’s ‘Amadeus’ or this play,” Baldwin adds. “It’s a difficult play to do. It’s very demanding, both for the actor who plays Alan, and the actor who plays Dysart. I tend to want to do a show and say, ‘Is it hard?’ For me you have to go out there and think there’s a good chance you won’t get it right.”
“I couldn’t have it better than I have it here,” adds Baldwin. “We have one of the greatest living playwrights in the world. When you read this play you think, ‘One guy wrote this?’ There are so may thing you’ll see that’s a challenge. The play is great. If the production doesn’t work, we’ll know it’s us.”
Sam Underwood comes to this production fresh from his role as Eugene Marchbanks in George Bernard Shaw’s “Candida” at The Irish Repertory Theater in Manhattan. The actor, a native Brit, admits to feeling a bit in awe of the talent he finds himself among with this show.
“It’s honestly truly humbling, to be around the theater and the artist royalty I get to work with on this play,” says Underwood. “I’m still learning a lot, and it hasn’t sunk in yet. To be involved with a not new piece, but a revised piece of the same play is incredible.”
And given the publicity received by Radcliffe’s recent appearance as Strang, is Underwood at all intimidated by stepping into a role so famously occupied by the world’s favorite boy wizard?
“Not in the slightest,” says Underwood. “What an amazing opportunity that was for him. But we’re incredibly different actors and incredibly different types. It didn’t even enter my mind. They're not going to see Daniel Radcliffe here.”
“When you do these productions, you will become Alan in their mind,” Baldwin tells Underwood. “When I did ‘[A] Streetcar [Named Desire]” I was nervous to do a play immortalized by ‘you know who.’ But [director] Greg Mosher said, ‘He’s in his house on Mulholland Drive in L.A. and is 70 years old. He’s not coming down here to do ‘Streetcar.’”
Anyone who’s seen it can attest — there’s a lot going on in “Equus” and over the years, plenty of critics and armchair psychologists have offered their views of what they feel is hidden, or not so hidden symbolism in the relationship between Strang and Dysart in the play. But for Baldwin, painting the play into a corner by labeling the two lead characters relationship and fitting it into a tidy box does a disservice to the work.
“There are some playwrights where the work has a gay tableau, like Terrence McNally,” says Baldwin. “Those are great plays because they are about the human condition, and the characters happen to be gay. Where a play is less of a play is where it's specifically written for a gay audience, for example. I don’t think of it in terms of that.”
“In ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” people love to imagine the characters being gay,” adds Walton. “But [Edward] Albee is clear – he said, ‘I would not have had trouble writing that if that’s what I wanted to write.’”
Beyond the messages that may or may not be hidden in the play’s text, there is still a story of a young man who carries out an incredibly heinous deed against half a dozen horses in his care. While that may be a burden too difficult for many people to imagine coping with, living with a character like Alan Strang who does terrible things is something that good actors just learn to do.
“How do you justify when someone does something like that?” asks Underwood. “You can never judge a character. People do bad things all the time, to try and analyze and make sense of it is silly. All I know is it’s come from huge passion. It’s the only thing for Alan, he’s got passion. It’s draining at the end of this play to go on that journey. But the biggest high ever.”
“When you have a great play and you know it works, there’s this tremendous opportunity for you,” adds Baldwin. “If you can go out there, you start a production at the beginning of the evening and the dream is to surf the wave to the shore. Say the lines the way they’re meant to be said and you can live that production. It’s the greatest experience as an actor.”
Ironically, though Baldwin has not yet been in a production of “Equus,” this is not Tony Walton’s first experience with the play — and he comes to it from a most unique angle. Besides seeing the original over and over again because he was astonished by the stage craft, Walton was the production and costume designer for Sidney Lumet’s film version of the play.
“One of the fascinating things of this production, people think of it as a play about a boy blinding horses,” says Walton. “But Peter made it 50/50 about the doctor and the boy. I’ve been surprised at how often the film is a completely different thing. It’s entirely a play and I’m not sure it should've been a movie.”
But as a play, “Equus” has had an extremely long and successful run. Looking back after almost 40 years after he wrote the play, Shaffer thinks he has figured out the furor it initially generated.
“When I reflect now back to the play’s general reception and how people were disturbed or angry, it amounted to this,” says Shaffer. “In England, people were upset and angry because it was unkind to horses. In America I caused a sensation because it was unkind to psychiatrists.”
Previews of “Equus” run June 8 through 10 at the John Drew Theater at Guild Hall (158 Main Street East Hampton). Opening night is Friday, June 11 and the play runs Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. Saturday matinees are at 2 p.m. Tickets are $28 to $70. Guild Hall’s Theater Season Opener Benefit Dinner is on June 11 at 5:30 p.m. The evening includes cocktails and light supper at a private East Hampton home followed by the performance and a reception with the cast afterwards. Tickets start at $650. To reserve, call 324-0806.
Top: Playwright Peter Shaffer, director Tony Walton, Sam Underwood (Alan Strang) and Alec Baldwin (Dr. Martin Dysart) discuss "Equus" opening June 8, 2010 at Guild Hall.
