Showing posts with label Equus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Equus. Show all posts
November 11, 2008
November 6, 2008
A Long Way from Hogwarts
I don't even know where to start.......
I had seen the play, Equus which stars Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths on Oct. 5, 2008 with Tom. It's a very dark and disturbing play. As soon as you enter the theatre and go to your seat, there is this foreboding feeling that you get from the ambiance of the space. Lani and Lynn have discussed this play to length but I just wanted to add that watching Mr. Radcliffe inhabit this role gives you the feeling of creepiness but at the same time sympathy. He infuses his Alan Strang with passion and pathos giving the audience heartbreak at the end of the play. I have always loved Richard Griffiths since I saw him in The History Boys and as the psychiatrist, Martin Dysart, he is as always affective. His performance was subtle and low key which was perfect foil to Mr. Radcliffe's raw emotions. Mr. Griffiths also manages to bring out the comedy in this very serious piece which I was pleasantly surprised. At the end of the play, lights turned on and people started walking out of the seats but I found myself just sitting there for a moment analysing what I had just seen. Though it was very dark, I did enjoy it and even more so afterward when discussing it with Tom and Lani. It's inevitable I think.......the play just calls for a discussion afterwards......and that is a good thing.
Here are some photos from that day:
the marquee (this was before the show)
right after the show......check out the stagedoor craziness!
can you believe it they even have a police line?!!
well, this is my very blurry shot of Richard Griffiths
the poster in front of the theatre
the playbill
September 23, 2008
All Aboard For The Highlands!
The 39 Steps........
Well, I first saw this on the 2008 Tonys and was very curious about it. I finally got to see it two Saturdays ago (9/13) with Mike and Katrina. I know, I know my review is a bit late. Anyway, if you're an Anglophile like me, then you'll love this play. It's clever and witty and superbly inventive. With a cast of four (two of which also act as stagecrew), plus a few props, the show takes you through a dizzying sequence of events that leave you in stitches!
These four insanely talented people (Arnie Burton, Jennifer Ferrin, Sam Robards and Cameron Folmar) play almost 150 different characters......how they don't get them mixed up is a wonder to me! I was really impressed with the staging of this play (Bravo to director Maria Aitken)........just watch the clip above and see how a sparse stage plus just a few props and an actor's commitment to the scene ignites the audience's imagination and takes you far, far away......it's pure brilliance! Definitely a jolly good time at the theatre!
Here are some pics from that night......
the marquee:.JPG)
the playbill:
a sign on one of the doors in the ladies room.......I wonder where the tunnel leads to?
After the show we walked around the theatre district to kill time since we were meeting Lani and her sisters at the Broadhurst theatre where they saw Equus that night. This was Virgin Records at Time Square.....I just found it odd that the Curtains ad was still up but the show is already closed. Maybe it's to sell more CDs?! But look closely....who's missing from the marquee? 
The posters at Shubert Alley:
The Xana-doors:
Well, the show (Equus) wasn't out yet but check out the crowd gathering outside the Broadhurst Theatre:
This was the crowd gathering across the street:
Here, again the crowd for Equus (still before the show even ended).......well, I didn't get pics of Daniel Radcliffe because it was a madhouse at the stagedoor! We didn't even get a glimpse of him really, just people's heads. But still, it was a fun night to be out and about!
September 16, 2008
Take a bow, Dan
crowd outside stage door
crowd across the street
I wasn't sure how I would like the story of a troubled stable hand who blinded 6 horses. But I had to see the Equus revival simply because Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is making his Broadway debut. And what a stunning debut! I've always thought Mr. Radcliffe is a smart, handsome, funny young man. After seeing Peter Shaffer's Tony Award-winning play, I'm convinced his controversial decision to play Alan Strang was a wise one. Apart from the initial thrill of seeing him walk onstage, I got so involved in the plot that I immediately forgot I was watching Harry Potter's alter-ego. I felt like a proud mother seeing her son all grown up, proving his acting mettle and taking the Great White Way by storm. Even the much-ballyhooed nude scene had lost its titillation factor because at that point, I was so drawn into the plight of this poor boy. Mr. Radcliffe's performance moved me and my sisters to tears.And let's not forget his HP co-star, Richard Griffiths back on Broadway after his Tony winning turn in The History Boys. He reprises his role as Martin Dysart, the psychiatrist trying to help the disturbed teen. He is forced to confront his own problems and question his life, his profession. Mr. Griffiths is onstage the whole time with Daniel. The chemistry, the mutual respect between him and his young co-star is evident.
Equus is one of the most intense, thought-provoking, disturbing theatre experiences I've ever had. It is by turns tragic and comic. The playwright does provide some levity, albeit biting humor at times. To me, it is less about the stable boy's sexual attraction to horses and more about religion and the hypocrisy surrounding it, the all-too-human search for a power higher than ourselves, our search for purpose and passion in our own lives.
And no, we didn't see them at the stage door because it was a madhouse. All we could hear was the crowd roar whenever a cast member came out. I saw the back of Richard Griffiths' head as he got in the car, and we saw Daniel's car leave. That was it. Still a great evening though.
September 15, 2008
The Strange Story of Alan Strang
Warning: Biased, disorganized, spoiler-ish, and very long Equus review straight ahead. Proceed at your own risk.
Crossposted from Nitpicky.org
Much ado has been made over the theater debut of Daniel Radcliffe, boy wizard Harry Potter to most of the world and heartthrob to its female population. In 2007, he bagged the role of Alan Strang, a disturbed 17-year-old who blinded six horses in Peter Shaffer's Equus. Many were both excited and apprehensive about his decision to step out of Harry's shadow, but what really had tongues wagging was his nude scene in the play. Frankly, that particular scene made me curious as well, and I unflinchingly laid down a pretty penny for a mezzanine seat during the play's September 13 preview performance. It was money well spent.
Are the horses silent now, Alan?**
Peter Shaffer penned Equus after hearing a disturbing bit of news from his friend. The story was about a local stable boy who was arrested for blinding the horses. The story took all of five minutes to tell, but its details chilled Shaffer and inspired him to write the play. No one knows if the true story is as dramatic as the events in the play, not even Shaffer, whose friend passed away before he (Shaffer) could completely verify all the information.*
Equus is mainly the story of Alan Strang, who instead of being sent to prison for his deed was sent to the care of Dr. Martin Dysart, a psychiatrist who is questioning his profession and the good it does for people; he is also the play's storyteller. Dysart was played with unbelievable ease and sympathy by Richard Griffiths, Uncle Vernon to Harry Potter. Alan and Dysart get off to a fairly rocky start, with Alan refusing to cooperate and bursting into song when he is spoken to--mostly commercial jingles. Gradually, Dysart earns his trust and he begins to respond more, with Alan relating the events that led, not just to the blinding, but to the way he is. We also learn about Dysart's feelings about his work and he unwittingly opens up parts of himself to Alan.
We discover that Alan has had a fascination for horses since he was a boy, and has experienced a conflicted childhood brought about by his parents' opposing religious beliefs. We don't know when or why exactly Alan substituted horses as figures of worship, but we see that he is in awe of their power and beauty, elevating them to the level of a god. He is soon introduced to the local stable by a girl he met at the store where he worked. Working at the stable leads him to close contact with horses, and this place further strengthens the horses' spell over Alan.
Disoriented
The first act of the play ended powerfully. I hadn't known what to expect coming into the theater, but it certainly wasn't the feeling of---let's just call it what it is--awe, and dread for what was to follow. The end of the performance, which consisted of Dysart's monologue, had my sisters in tears and me riveted; Griffiths made me see the doctor's own conflict, his disappointment with his own life, and his envy for Alan's passion. Certainly a monologue which made me wish I had already found my own passion, though nothing like as extreme as Alan's.
The mention of Equus automatically makes people think that a.) it's a vehicle for Daniel Radcliffe's "grown-up" status which will allow him to stop being seen as That Potter Boy and that b.) it's a story about a boy who fiddles inappropriately with horses. I might agree with the first point--more on that later--but not with the second one. Alan Strang is normally seen as a boy with a sexual passion for horses, which I didn't see; it seemed more to me as though he was filling a gap in his spiritual and emotional makeup, and that he worshipped horses rather than lusted for them.
Dysart had observed that his role as a psychiatrist was to help disturbed young people and make them "normal" again, "acceptable" to society. He questions whether what he is doing actually helps people in the first place. The good doctor has a lot to get off his chest and the way the play is written, it's as if the events involving his sessions with Alan are still so clear that he is able to vividly retell every incident, with him seamlessly slipping into each scene after narrating his thoughts and each detail to the audience.
It may be unnecessary to point out that the acting in this play was superb. The girl who played Jill was just the right level of perky; Alan's parents were both haunted by what happened to their son, but they were a perfectly normal husband and wife. The men who played the horses were particularly stunning; their movements were perfect and the wire masks were chilling. Even if Griffiths or Daniel did not star in the play, though, the play would still be equally chilling.
Ultimately, Equus left me wrung-out--in a very good way. Don't take that to mean that the play was a complete bummer; it had plenty of light-hearted moments, with most of them surprisingly taking place with Alan, who is, despite his horse-blinding ways, a truly sympathetic character. I'd like to say that Equus stresses the importance of proper sexual education and religious instruction, that it says there may be no way to salvage a damaged mind and soul, or that it cries out for people to be free and unencumbered by guilt and societal pressure, but that would be too simplistic. Although they are part of it as well.
Mischief managed
Like I mentioned, the draw of Daniel Radcliffe was what prompted me to watch Equus. When Harry Potter and the Sorcerer`s Stone first came out in theaters years ago, I was excited to see the boy playing Harry Potter, simply because he was so adorable-looking and I wondered if he could do the book justice. When I saw the movie, I was disappointed by his acting, but I figured he would improve with time, which he thankfully did. Anyone who isn't impressed by him would be shocked by his turn in Equus. His Alan Strang was socially awkward, distrustful, obviously confused, and, well, tortured, but you could see at the same time that he can be a nice boy-albeit one with a tenuous grip on reality and his sanity. I couldn't help occasionally hearing Harry in his voice, however, especially when he was recounting to Dysart the feeling that he was being pierced through his stomach by the force of his god-slave. Dysart inquires, "Who?" and Alan howls gut-wrenchingly, "You know who!" which caused me and my sister to exchange glances; whether or not that was a nod to, um, You-Know-Who, we have no idea.
Oh yeah, the nude scene? Daniel said in the show's feature article in Playbill, "Horse Sense," that by the time the nude scene rolled around, audiences would be completely in the thrall of the story that any prurient thoughts would have vanished. And how right he was, though I will confess that there was a tiny voice in my head that said, 'OMG here comes the naked part!' Once it was playing out, however, it becomes such a natural part of the story that I was barely aware of the nudity. (Honest.)
I had hoped for a chance to shake his hand at the stage door and tell him how truly amazing he was and that I now have a respect for him that goes way beyond screaming about how cute he is, but as expected, there was a mad throng waiting outside. We were ten feet deep in people; I didn't even catch a glimpse of him, just of a black Escalade spiriting him away from Broadhurst Theater. The other people surrounding us were talking about him, of course, with one girl remarking, "He's so small, he's only 5'6", isn't that cute?" Daniel may be shorter than all his castmates and he may have been effortlessly carried around onstage, but with his acting skills and the way he can bring characters to life---yep, Harry Potter included--he now looks larger than life to me.
* information from "Horse Sense," Playbill
** Titled nicked from Cez
Crossposted from Nitpicky.org
Much ado has been made over the theater debut of Daniel Radcliffe, boy wizard Harry Potter to most of the world and heartthrob to its female population. In 2007, he bagged the role of Alan Strang, a disturbed 17-year-old who blinded six horses in Peter Shaffer's Equus. Many were both excited and apprehensive about his decision to step out of Harry's shadow, but what really had tongues wagging was his nude scene in the play. Frankly, that particular scene made me curious as well, and I unflinchingly laid down a pretty penny for a mezzanine seat during the play's September 13 preview performance. It was money well spent.
Are the horses silent now, Alan?**
Peter Shaffer penned Equus after hearing a disturbing bit of news from his friend. The story was about a local stable boy who was arrested for blinding the horses. The story took all of five minutes to tell, but its details chilled Shaffer and inspired him to write the play. No one knows if the true story is as dramatic as the events in the play, not even Shaffer, whose friend passed away before he (Shaffer) could completely verify all the information.*
Equus is mainly the story of Alan Strang, who instead of being sent to prison for his deed was sent to the care of Dr. Martin Dysart, a psychiatrist who is questioning his profession and the good it does for people; he is also the play's storyteller. Dysart was played with unbelievable ease and sympathy by Richard Griffiths, Uncle Vernon to Harry Potter. Alan and Dysart get off to a fairly rocky start, with Alan refusing to cooperate and bursting into song when he is spoken to--mostly commercial jingles. Gradually, Dysart earns his trust and he begins to respond more, with Alan relating the events that led, not just to the blinding, but to the way he is. We also learn about Dysart's feelings about his work and he unwittingly opens up parts of himself to Alan.
We discover that Alan has had a fascination for horses since he was a boy, and has experienced a conflicted childhood brought about by his parents' opposing religious beliefs. We don't know when or why exactly Alan substituted horses as figures of worship, but we see that he is in awe of their power and beauty, elevating them to the level of a god. He is soon introduced to the local stable by a girl he met at the store where he worked. Working at the stable leads him to close contact with horses, and this place further strengthens the horses' spell over Alan.
Disoriented
The first act of the play ended powerfully. I hadn't known what to expect coming into the theater, but it certainly wasn't the feeling of---let's just call it what it is--awe, and dread for what was to follow. The end of the performance, which consisted of Dysart's monologue, had my sisters in tears and me riveted; Griffiths made me see the doctor's own conflict, his disappointment with his own life, and his envy for Alan's passion. Certainly a monologue which made me wish I had already found my own passion, though nothing like as extreme as Alan's.
The mention of Equus automatically makes people think that a.) it's a vehicle for Daniel Radcliffe's "grown-up" status which will allow him to stop being seen as That Potter Boy and that b.) it's a story about a boy who fiddles inappropriately with horses. I might agree with the first point--more on that later--but not with the second one. Alan Strang is normally seen as a boy with a sexual passion for horses, which I didn't see; it seemed more to me as though he was filling a gap in his spiritual and emotional makeup, and that he worshipped horses rather than lusted for them.
Dysart had observed that his role as a psychiatrist was to help disturbed young people and make them "normal" again, "acceptable" to society. He questions whether what he is doing actually helps people in the first place. The good doctor has a lot to get off his chest and the way the play is written, it's as if the events involving his sessions with Alan are still so clear that he is able to vividly retell every incident, with him seamlessly slipping into each scene after narrating his thoughts and each detail to the audience.
It may be unnecessary to point out that the acting in this play was superb. The girl who played Jill was just the right level of perky; Alan's parents were both haunted by what happened to their son, but they were a perfectly normal husband and wife. The men who played the horses were particularly stunning; their movements were perfect and the wire masks were chilling. Even if Griffiths or Daniel did not star in the play, though, the play would still be equally chilling.
Ultimately, Equus left me wrung-out--in a very good way. Don't take that to mean that the play was a complete bummer; it had plenty of light-hearted moments, with most of them surprisingly taking place with Alan, who is, despite his horse-blinding ways, a truly sympathetic character. I'd like to say that Equus stresses the importance of proper sexual education and religious instruction, that it says there may be no way to salvage a damaged mind and soul, or that it cries out for people to be free and unencumbered by guilt and societal pressure, but that would be too simplistic. Although they are part of it as well.
Mischief managed
Like I mentioned, the draw of Daniel Radcliffe was what prompted me to watch Equus. When Harry Potter and the Sorcerer`s Stone first came out in theaters years ago, I was excited to see the boy playing Harry Potter, simply because he was so adorable-looking and I wondered if he could do the book justice. When I saw the movie, I was disappointed by his acting, but I figured he would improve with time, which he thankfully did. Anyone who isn't impressed by him would be shocked by his turn in Equus. His Alan Strang was socially awkward, distrustful, obviously confused, and, well, tortured, but you could see at the same time that he can be a nice boy-albeit one with a tenuous grip on reality and his sanity. I couldn't help occasionally hearing Harry in his voice, however, especially when he was recounting to Dysart the feeling that he was being pierced through his stomach by the force of his god-slave. Dysart inquires, "Who?" and Alan howls gut-wrenchingly, "You know who!" which caused me and my sister to exchange glances; whether or not that was a nod to, um, You-Know-Who, we have no idea.
Oh yeah, the nude scene? Daniel said in the show's feature article in Playbill, "Horse Sense," that by the time the nude scene rolled around, audiences would be completely in the thrall of the story that any prurient thoughts would have vanished. And how right he was, though I will confess that there was a tiny voice in my head that said, 'OMG here comes the naked part!' Once it was playing out, however, it becomes such a natural part of the story that I was barely aware of the nudity. (Honest.)
I had hoped for a chance to shake his hand at the stage door and tell him how truly amazing he was and that I now have a respect for him that goes way beyond screaming about how cute he is, but as expected, there was a mad throng waiting outside. We were ten feet deep in people; I didn't even catch a glimpse of him, just of a black Escalade spiriting him away from Broadhurst Theater. The other people surrounding us were talking about him, of course, with one girl remarking, "He's so small, he's only 5'6", isn't that cute?" Daniel may be shorter than all his castmates and he may have been effortlessly carried around onstage, but with his acting skills and the way he can bring characters to life---yep, Harry Potter included--he now looks larger than life to me.
* information from "Horse Sense," Playbill
** Titled nicked from Cez
July 17, 2007
Harry Potter All Grown Up
I'm sure you've heard from the grapevine that Daniel Radcliffe was in a play in London called Equus. It's very dark and disturbing and completely on the opposite side of the spectrum from his Harry Potter films. Well, here's a really good interview of Daniel Radcliffe discussing the play, his nude scenes, including how he deals with having to act while naked infront of an audience. Yes, Harry Potter has grown up and watching this interview you'd see a very charming and witty young man.
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