MyWorldReviews.com

Equus on Broadway

New York, New York, United States

Equus at the Broadhurst Theater

The Equus Stage

Equus is a play currently on broadway starring Daniel Radcliffe (who also plays Harry Potter) and Richard Griffiths (who also plays Vernon Dursley). Kate Mulgrew (who also played Captain Janeway) is also in Equus. If I had to sum the show up in one word, it would be "weird". If I could use an additional word, it would be "pornographic".

The play tells the story of a young man (played by Radcliffe) who has committed a grotesque crime against horses, and is mandated to undergo state-sponsored psychiatry. His psychiatrist (played by Griffiths) is responsible for analyzing the boy to help cure him. Along the way, the psychiatrist comes to confront his own questions about his methods, and the affect they have on his patients.

The play contains a reasonable amount of profanity, and the famous "naked" scene. I didn't think the naked scene really added much to the performance, but I'm sure it did do a nice job as a marketing gimmick.

The dialogue followed the same "artsy" theme as the rest of the play. The actors used a lot of complex sentences to try and give viewers the appearance of lots of depth and substance, but the play still just felt very weird. I thought the way some of the dialogue was constructed and mixed with the story was quite well done. In some scenes, the young man is talking to the psychiatrist while he (and others) act out the story he's talking about.

We decided to give the play a fairly low rating because none of us really enjoyed it. It was just very weird. The naked scene was disturbing, and was not at all tasteful. The story was strange - I never felt drawn into it. At the end of the play, I felt like it had been a more disturbing experience than enjoyable one. That being said, it was pretty cool seeing the cast outside of the roles they're more commonly known for.

Cost

Orchestra tickets are around $120. Half price tickets are available from one of New York's half price tkts booths.