EQUUS, Westminster Players; directed by Michael Vought; Jay W. Lees Courage Theatre, Jewett Center for the Performing Arts, 1250 E. 1700 South. Continues Thursday-Saturday, March 23-25, 7:30 p.m.; suggested donation, $5; call 488-4250 for reservations. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes (one intermission).
For visible proof of the strides Westminster College's theater program has taken in the past couple of years under the nurturing hands of Michael and Nina Vought, check out this production of Peter Shaffer's intense, psychological drama, "Equus.""Equus," which focuses on a disturbed young British stable boy and a respected psychiatrist, is a work that challenges the players and the audience alike. Westminster's Courage Theatre is the appropriate setting for this; it takes immense courage for a relatively small theater company to stage such a difficult, demanding -- and very provocative -- drama.
Wil McKean, a Westminster sophomore studying business, gives a knock-out performance as Alan Strang, an emotionally deranged young boy from a dysfunctional family who blinds six horses while working in a stable in southern England.
A local magistrate, Hester Solomon, nicely played by Rebecca Benson, sends the lad to Rokeby Psychiatric Hospital, where he's placed in the care of Dr. Martin Dysart -- a man battling his own demons. Guest artist Richard G. Scharine, professor of theater at the University of Utah, plays Dysart, adding considerably to the passion of Shaffer's chilling script.
Other major roles in the mostly student cast include Alan's parents, Frank and Dora, played by Jessica Aldridge and John Welsh; Jill Mason (played by Toshika Dignam), another young stable employee, whose intmate meeting with Alan pushes him over the edge; the hospital's Nurse, played by Amanda E. Caraway, and stable owner Harry Dalton, played by Kelly Stevens.
Much of the credit for this production's success also goes to Nina Vought for the superb set and technical support; Deborah McLaughlin's choreography, Alison Perreault and Justin Fry's beautifully crafted masks, and Heidi Caldwell's costumes.
The stylistic, multilevel set, draped with dark burlap, lets the audience's collective imagination fill in the visual blanks -- a hospital room, a straw-strewn stable, an ancient Greek ritual.
"Equus" is a play that's filled with fascinating religious and psychological symbolism. There is also quite a bit of "adult" material that, while it might offend some, is critical to the plot.
Sensitivity rating: Profanity, vulgarity, artistically obscured nudity, implied sex, hinted bestiality, some on-stage smoking.