EQUUS
by PETER SHAFFER
Shining, it was Adam and maiden ...
So it must have been after the birth
of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the
spellbound horses walking warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.
—Fern Hill, Dylan Thomas
In Equus, it is the Old Adam and night, and six horses are wheeling in terror. They have been blinded by a 17-year-old boy wielding a metal spike. Spurred by this lacerating image, Peter Shaffer has fashioned a galvanizing psychological thriller.
It is also a Manhattan cocktail-party play,...