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Review Round-up: Radcliffe Reins in Equus Revival

Harry Potter screen co-stars Daniel Radcliffe (pictured) and Richard Griffiths reunite on stage in the new West End revival of Peter Shaffer’s controversial 1973 classic Equus which opened last night (27 February 2007, previews from 16 February) at the Gielgud Theatre, where the strikingly bold and black front-of-house edifice extended over the pavement into Shaftesbury Avenue, literally stopping traffic in Theatreland’s main thoroughfare (See News, 1 Nov 2006).

In Equus, psychiatrist Martin Dysart (Griffiths) tries to solve the problem of why a quiet 17-year-old with a routine life and loving family would suddenly blind six horses with a hoof pick. What drove Alan Strang (Radcliffe) to such an act of violence? Shaffer’s play was originally presented by the National Theatre at the Old Vic in 1973, directed by John Dexter, and starring Alec McCowen as the psychiatrist and Peter Firth as the patient.

While Griffiths is a stage veteran – who won myriad Best Actor prizes for his last role in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys - Equus marks the stage debut for Radcliffe, known around the globe as the precocious wizard from the Harry Potter film series, in which Griffiths plays his vile uncle. The cast also features Will Kemp, Jenny Agutter, Gabrielle Ready, Jonathan Cullen and newcomer Joanna Christie.

Equus is directed by Thea Sharrock - outgoing artistic director of west London’s Gate Theatre, who previously directed Griffiths in the West End in Heroes - and designed by the play’s original designer John Napier, who was lured out of semi-retirement for the revival.

Overnight critics were impressed with Radcliffe who successfully managed to “throw off the mantle” of Harry Potter and prove his mettle as a stage actor. They also applauded Radcliffe’s ability to overcome the hype surrounding the play’s much-publicised nude scene, which he played bravely and completely in character. However, some critics were not quite so convinced that Radcliffe had the emotional range to capture every aspect of the troubled teenager, and while some were not too fond of Shaffer’s play itself, many praised Sharrock’s production for its evocative atmosphere and emotional impact.

Nicholas de Jongh in the Evening Standard (3 stars) – “Radcliffe plays Strang and, glaring eyes apart, emphasises his vulnerability…. When it came down to basics, though, Radcliffe's striptease with his would-be girlfriend Jill, an equally nude Joanna Christie, loomed small compared with the impact of the stylised scene of the horses' destruction. Six actors wear wire-frame horses' heads, with metal platform hooves. Their hollow eyes glow in the dark. Whinnying, rearing and hoof-stamping, they suffer Alan's attacks. For sheer shock effect, nothing else in Thea Sharrock's undercharged production matches this scene…. Richard Griffiths is far too affable, winsome and relaxed as the psychiatrist Dysart…. Shaffer's casebook finally leaves you shaking your head in disbelief. Equus works as theatre, if not as psychological case-study, if shrink and patient are made desperate by the battle over passion, rationalism and religion. Griffiths, though, packs no emotional punch, lacking the agitated despair Alec McCowen brought to the role, while Radcliffe's touching, little-boy lost Alan never convinces you he is wild with desire for horses or girls. Equus still fascinates, but this revival lacks horse-power.”

- by Caroline Ansdell & Terri Paddock

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