The bulk of peter shaffers equus deals with the relationship between distinguished psychologist martin dysart and troubled 17yearold boy alan strang. Shaffer was born a twin his brother is anthony in 1926 in liverpool, england. Peter shaffer s equus 1973 won the 1975 tony award for best play. The main characters of this plays, drama story are. This study guide consists of approximately 30 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of equus. Peter shaffer wanted to make elaborate theatre the guardian. Equus genus, a genus of animals including horses, donkeys and zebras. Over the weekend we were lucky enough to catch the touring version at sheffields lyceum theatre. By exploring these relationships, shaffer shows us that we all worship something in life, whether or not we belong to an actual religion. In equus, shaffer narrates the story of an emotionally distressed adolescent alan strang who is torn between religious. He begins with a monologue in which he outlines the case of alan strang who has a pathological religioussexual fascination with horses. Read equus online by peter shaffer books free 30day. The theme of religion and worship in equus from litcharts. Equus, drama in two acts by peter shaffer, produced and published in 1973.
Free download or read online amadeus pdf epub book. Alan strang, a disturbed young man, has been committed to a psychiatric hospital for blinding six horses. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of equus by peter shaffer. Before studying the play equus itself, one might look at the background and development of its author, peter shaffer.
Tim dixon, owner of fe equus, has an extensive and diverse background and his expertise, passion and ingenuity are evident in all of our firms projects. The blinding of horses is something that works a great deal better as stage symbolism than as cinematic fact, and thats one of the several things wrong with the way equus has been brought to the screen. Dysart, a doctor, a friend, the confused and jealous main character. Pauls school in london and worked during world war ii as a conscript in a coal mine. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. Equus film, a film adaptation of the peter shaffer play. The concepts of passion and worship are intimately related in equus, and over the course of the play, shaffer complicates our idea of what religion is and should be. The present paper aims to offer an overview of dixons from passions to emotions. Equus is a drama play by peter shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses. What are the major themes in equus and how does shaffer. Equus, a play by peter shaffer, is a twisted tale of a boys affixation with horses as his god and the complications he deals with about sex, religion and life. Equus is the dramatization of a psychologically damaged young man, alan, who, for no known reason, blinded six horses with a hoof pick at the stables he worked at. The writer uses theme and sexuality theories and close reading method.
Ostensibly an extended dialogue between a mentally ill boy and his psychiatrist, shaffers play goes far beyond the realms of psychoanalysis and begins to stir the surface of an incipient numinous awakening. Peter shaffers play, duly enshrined as one of the decades best, benefited from the limitations of the stage in telling its story of a strange young man driven to blind six horses. Equus is a 1973 play by peter shaffer about a young stableboy who is driven to madness by his emotional pain, insecurity, and his inability to face his past in a rational manner. Equus magazine, american monthly lifestyle magazine for horse enthusiasts. Once it entered, the chorus was always present on stage. The stage design given by shaffer is quite novel, using a central raised platform, circular and revolving, together with two benches on either side and, in the background, a row of seats for the chorus representing the god equus. Through a psychiatrists analysis of the events, shaffer creates a chilling portrait of how materialism and convenience have killed our capacity for worship. He also divulges his feeling that his occupation is not a.
Passion in peter shaffers equus essay 2285 words 10 pages. Peter shaffers equus 1973 won the 1975 tony award for best play. Equus play project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. A sensation at the time, it is still visceral and shocking on stage. The first edition of the novel was published in 1979, and was written by peter shaffer. Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in equus, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. An explosive play that took critics and audiences by storm, equus is peter shaffer s exploration of the way modern society has destroyed our ability to feel passion. Peter shaffers first major success, five finger exercise, came in 1958 at londons comedy theatre and placed him firmly within the chronology of the new drama then sweeping the british stage. Now, awardwinning director ned bennett is bringing his incredible revival of peter shaffer s equus to londons trafalgar studios. Sexuality in equus by peter shaffer linkedin slideshare. Nowadays reading books be than want or need but also be a life style. It is initially described as being like a dissecting theatre the setting where autopsies would be performed when our biological knowledge had not progressed to the point that it has today. Equus is a 1973 play by english playwright peter shaffer. Reviews of the beckershaffers diagnosis and therapy of the glaucomas edition 8 to date regarding the guide weve beckershaffers diagnosis and therapy of the glaucomas edition 8 pdf suggestions customers havent but eventually left his or her article on the sport, or you cannot read it yet.
Ive always been really fascinated with the play equus, from which ive performed a monologue several times. It depicts a psychiatrists fascination with a disturbed teenagers mythopoeic obsession with horses the drama unfolds through the eyes of martin dysart, a psychiatrist and an amateur mythologist, who narrates the events of his rehabilitation of alan strang, a 17yearold stable boy who has been arrested for. When a deranged boy, alan strang, blinds six horses with a metal spike he is. Dysart from equus by peter shaffer monologue search. British author peter shaffer, who won tony awards for best play for equus 1974 and amadeus 1980 has died, according to his publicist.
Equus book by peter shaffer official publisher page. Pdf amadeus book by peter shaffer free download 160 pages. After committing a heinous act against several horses the boy, alan, is brought to a hospital where he meets dysart. Equus, peter shaffers 1973 play, tells the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man convicted of blinding six horses. Equus peter shaffer on free shipping on qualifying offers. They are successful on both sides of potential reception, reinforcing critical acclaim rusinko. In peter shaffer s equus, a psychiatrist, martin dysart, is conducting an investigation on alan strang. Passion in peter shaffer s equus essay 2285 words 10 pages.
Integrity in the emotions, emphasizing the historical evolution and descent of. In equus, which took critics and public alike by storm and has gone on to become a modern classic, peter shaffer depicts the story of a deranged youth who blinds six horses with a spike. Abstract this paper is written to analyse equus by peter shaffer. One of the principal themes of this incredible play to my mind is that of sanity and insanity and how, through dysarts sessions with alan, the play profoundly questions the extent to which such. The benefits you got of course the knowledge even the information inside the book this improve your knowledge and information. Practice of traveling for recreation, guidance of tourists, encouragement of touring, and the accommodation of tourists. In peter shaffers equus, a psychiatrist, martin dysart, is conducting an investigation on alan strang. In equus by peter shaffer, set is also used to reinforce the purpose of making the audience question normality in our society. Superficially, the two characters could not be more different, and at the onset of the play we expect the narrative to focus on the attempts of the former to cure the latter. Equus summary equus is a 1974 tony awardwinning play written by peter schaffer and published in 1973. Alan strang, the main character of the story, is a mentally unstable teenager whose perception of life is distorted. In the cu production, all the actors, equine and human, stay on stage throughout the entire performance.
Sep 21, 2011 peter shaffers equus is the painful story of a conflicted young man who is suppressed by societys dictation of what is acceptable. Equus is a drama play by peter shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses shaffer was inspired to write equus when he heard of a crime involving a 17yearold who blinded six horses in a small town in suffolk. Equus is a psychodrama written by the british playwright peter shaffer. The main characters in equus display a wide range of relationships to religion.
An explosive play that took critics and audiences by storm, equus is peter shaffers exploration of the way modern society has destroyed our ability to feel passion. Martin dysart to get to the root of the problems affecting neurotic seventeen yearold alan strang, who has blinded six horses with a pick at the stable where he works. In equus, shaffer has given us a chorus of horses who produce the equus noise, a kind of choral chant made up of voices and sounds. As psychiatrist martin dysart struggles to understand the motivation for alans brutality, he is. Alans pose represents a contour of great tenderness. Among his plays, the salt land 1954, equus 1973 which won shaffer the 1975 tony award for best play as well as the new york drama critics circle award, amadeus 1979 which won the evening standard drama award and the theatre critics award for the london production. Like christ, equus must first suffer in order to bring salvation.
In a spotlight stands alan strang, a lean boy of seventeen, in sweater and jeans. Alan strang is a disturbed youth whose dangerous obsession with horses. The play focuses on the relationship between strang and the psychiatrist martin dysart who has taken on. Mar 23, 2015 2,486 words peter shaffers 1973 play, equus, is arguably the most pagan work of art created in the 20th century. The creation of a secular psychological category and pugmires sound sentiments. He is learning, through his investigation of alans horrific crime, about what it really means to make someone normal and what a psychiatrist really does. Though not as unconventional in subject matter or as influential in defining the shift from the drawing room to the row house as john osbournes look back in anger 1956, shaffers. Ezek azok a kerdesek, amelyek talan eloszor vetodnek fel bennunk, ha megnezzuk a szabadkai nepszinhaz equus szerzo peter shaffer, rendezo hernyak gyorgy. Alan strang is a disturbed youth whose dangerous obsession with horses leads him to commit an unspeakable act of violence. Passion and worship in peter shaffers equus essay bartleby. Equus is a play by peter shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses. Earlier this year equus had a stunning 5star run at the theatre royal stratford east that kicked off a national tour with english touring theatre.
It was actually one of the monologues i used to audition for elons program. He set out to construct a fictional account of what might. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 160 pages and is available in paperback format. Jun 06, 2016 remarkably, though, peter shaffer achieved the feat in three successive decades. The purpose of this writing is to find the theme and the sexual aspect of the play. After weeks of psychoanalysis, alan, under hypnosis, is able to relive the events immediately preceding the blinding. Tickets for the west end transfer of equus tickets available now. Dysart is a psychiatrist in a psychiatric hospital. Equus is a gripping story of alan strang, a deeply troubled seventeen year old, who has inexplicably blinded six horses, and psychiatrist martin dysart, who seeks to relieve the boy of his extreme anguish and selftorture. Selfconsciously staging itself in the psychotherapy sessions of a disturbed young man, peter shaffers equus is a shocking exploration of the limits of faith, of the intersecting worlds of the sacred and profane, and of the paltry value of a mundane life, published in penguin modern classics. His performance also helps to camouflage the fact peter shaffers celebrated ritual. Alan will be saved, he says, by riding away on equusthe horse can thus be interpreted as alans escape from the pressures of his family life and modern society. Jun 04, 2017 sexuality in equus by peter shaffer 1. Peter shaffer writing styles in equus peter shaffer this study guide consists of approximately 30 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of equus.
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