Review by Jo Bayne,
Wiltshire Gazette and Herald, February 2006. UNRAVELLING A NIGHTMARE PETER Shaffer's Equus is one of the most challenging plays in the contemporary theatrical repertoire. For highly charged emotional content it rivals Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, although the subject matter is different and perhaps more difficult. It is a brave choice for an amateur production, not least because the pivotal role is that of a 17 year old boy. Director Lesley Mills discovered a remarkable young actor in Edward Hobbs, a sixth form student at The John Bentley School in Calne. The plot, briefly, concerns the boy, Alan Strang, who blinded four horses with a metal spike, at the stable where he worked weekends. The magistrate who hears his case refers him to Martin Dysart, a psychiatrist friend, because, although repulsed by the boy's crime, she wants to understand why he did it. The boy was passionate about horses and his actions seem incomprehensible. In unravelling the motivation, Dysart uncovers religious tension in the boy's home, a deeply religious mother and an atheist father, coupled with the usual angst and sexual confusion of adolescence. He also finds the case deeply unsettling because in Alan he sees a capacity for ecstasy and passion that he has lost, and so have most so-called normal people. He knows that if he gets to the root of Alan's behaviour and modifies it, he will take away for ever the boy's gift for experiencing the extremes of emotion. Mike Polack as Dysart and Hobbs have developed an excellent chemistry in their roles. Hobbs delivers an electrifying performance as the deeply disturbed young man, digging deep into the emotional well to explain his character, vocally and physically - a young man to watch if he makes the theatre his career. Polack gives us a mature, sympathetic, and slightly world-weary psychiatrist. It is [a] huge role as he is never off stage, a part of every conversation, or acting as narrator. It is a totally convincing performance. Colin Green and Liz Siese are well paired as Alan's distressed and perplexed parents, throwing up another set of psychoes for Dysart to dissect. Sheila Weller is Hester the magistrate, portraying a compassionate, intelligent woman in whose hands you feel the cause of justice is safe. Alex Hopkins, Russell Fletcher, Liam Richards and Steve Smith create extraordinarily lifelike horses. The masks made by Graham Randle and horseshoes by Andy Smith reinforced the effects. The first rate cast is completed by Bronwyn Short, Christopher Tyndale and Kerry Hopkins. The play runs until Saturday. Jo Bayne. | 
