Equus (on paper)

Peter Shaffer’s towering psychological drama 'Equus' turned the stage of the Plymouth Theatre into a spectacular crucible of moral philosophy in 1974, running for an astonishing 1,209 performances and winning the Tony Award for Best Play. The claustrophobic narrative tracks Dr. Martin Dysart, a disillusioned child psychiatrist who is handed a logic-defying case: treating Alan Strang, a deeply troubled seventeen-year-old stable boy who has pathologically blinded six horses with a metal spike. As Dysart unpeels the youth's complex, sexually charged religious adoration of the animals, he faces a profound crisis regarding his own clinical work. Directed by John Dexter, the historic premiere starred Anthony Hopkins and Peter Firth.