2008 - Equus Broadway (Daniel Radcliff & Richard Griffiths) 

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2007 - Equus West End (Daniel Radcliff & Richard Griffiths)

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Director: Thea Sharrock 

Assistant Director: Rachel Russell 

Writer: Peter Shaffer

Designer: John Napier

Lighting: David Hersey

Movement & choreography: Fin Walker

Associate Costume Designer: Elise Napier

Sound: Gregory Clarke

Casting: Sarah Bird CDG

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'THE scene comes at the very end of “Equus,” now playing at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway. After more than two hours of anticipation a young man named Alan, played by Daniel Radcliffe, blinds six horses in a nightmarish dance that leaves the audience disturbed and stunned. It lasts only 20 seconds, but the blinding, which onstage is manifest as a kind of equine ballet, has become one of the most memorable parts of this drama, making the men who portray the horses a vital part of “Equus” since its premiere in 1973'. Julie Bloom New York Times

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'But the most sensually evocative moments involve the horses, played by a group of fittingly studly men led by Lorenzo Pisoni as Alan’s favourite, Nugget. Sporting leather-and-aluminum helmets, mimicking equine elegance via Fin Walker’s robust choreography, they are hypnotic, haunting figures, more beautiful and ominous than any phrase in the script'.

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'If Equus doesn’t share their unmannered grandeur, at least this staging pays homage to it'. 

USA Today, Elysa Gardner 

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'The horses at the stable where Alan works are played by actors wearing metal masks and oversized metal platform shoes that allow them to tower over the human characters; their movements (choreographed by Fin Walker) are stylised approximations of the singular elegance of a trot, canter or gallop. Napier, with his collaborators David Hersey (lighting) and Gregory Clarke (sound), creates an astonishing world of heightened imagination that mirrors the twisted feats of invention that Alan himself achieves in the story. The realisation of the play’s climax—the re-creation of Alan’s crime—is one of the most authentically horrifying moments I’ve ever seen on stage.                  

 nytheatre.com, Martin Denton 

 

'....the most memorable part of this drama, making the men who portray the horses a vital part of “Equus”  NY Times.

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Finally, there are those horses, led by Lorenzo Pisoni as Alan’s equine godhead, and Radcliffe, who proves to be a magical force – even when the demons are internal.New York Newsday, Linda Winer

Wearing the arresting raised metal hooves and steel-cage equine headgear of the six actor-dancers that provide the production’s stunning horse imagery, Pisoni also plays Nugget, the chief object of Alan’s obsession at the stable where he works. The scenes of quasi-religious ecstasy in which Alan is hoisted up on horseback for the first time, the intensely sexual release of his furtive naked night rides and, finally, the terrified raptus that follows his abortive date with stable co-worker Jill (Anna Camp) all retain the power to shock and disturb as “Equus” did in the ’70s'.Variety, Marilyn Stasio 

Equus @ Broadhurst Theatre, New York

by Richard Patterson

published: 1 Sep 2008 in Theatre

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The horses in the production are brought to anthropomorphic life by six muscular men dressed in brown jumpsuits and metal heads, poised like nimble dancers on hoof-shaped shoes. Their hybrid status – halfway between man and beast – highlights another of the play’s key themes, the idea of horse and rider as one entity. The effective costumes are also designed by Napier. Fittingly the horse’s movements are subtly equine, full of neck-twitches, strident trots, and gallops. Fin Walker, credited here with movement, puts the horses to good use, particularly in the first act’s final scene, in which Alan rides the phantom horse Equus through the late-night smoke and nettles. As played out on the rotating elements of the set, this moment between horse and rider is breathtaking – taking on an almost religious quality.