As the audience files into Equus, now playing at KXT on Broadway, they are confronted by a large, partially clad person (Shalamah Tautaiolefue), centre stage and slowly emoting to the electro house beats and distorted vocals of Benny Benassi’s Satisfaction.
They sense that they are in for a bumpy ride, and for the next 150 minutes this 1973 play by gay English playwright Peter Shaffer delivers in spades.
With its themes that include religion and rationality, psychiatry, madness, repression, and sexuality, Equus is still as capable of shocking today as it was when first performed.
This production, by queer producer Daniel Cottier with bAKEHOUSE Theatre, and directed by the mononymous Brockman, delves deeply into the play’s themes and throws a light on the many layers of sexuality and queerness that were buried in most early productions.
The story of Equus is loosely based on true events involving a young man blinding twenty-six horses in a stable, which Shaffer used as seed material for the play.
Shaffer’s story concerns 17-year-old, Alan Strang (Ryan Yeates), who is referred to psychiatrist Dr Martin Dysart (J James-Moody) by court magistrate Hesther Saloman (Linda Nicholls-Gidley), after he is arrested for blinding six horses with a spike.
Dysart receives the traumatised boy, and after spelling out his own dissatisfaction with his life, grapples with the many complications concerning Alan’s welfare, including concepts of ‘normality’ and the fear after treatment that they will return to a dull and unfulfilled life. During his hospitalisation, Alan’s parents visit, and Dysart determines that they are responsible for his early traumatisation.
Alan’s mother Dora (Sophie Gregg) is a devout Christian, while father Frank is a determined non-believer who is bored with his job. It is Frank who destroys Alan’s picture of Jesus at the crucifixion which Alan replaces with one of a horse with large eyes.
During intense sessions, Alan finally begins to divulge that he is attracted to horses, while struggling with his mother’s concept of a future relationship grounded in religious devotion and marriage.
As Alan’s work stable work puts him in close contact with horses, he developed a hippophile attraction for them, stroking their bodies and feeling their muscles.
Alan’s job in an electrical goods store is where he meets Jill Mason (Cloud Fernandez-Montoya), who works at the local stables, and having desires for him, suggests that he also gets work there.
On meeting the stable’s owner, Harry Dalton (Stephen Madsen, who also plays a nurse and a horseman), Alan begins fixating on a horse called Nugget, secretly taking him for late night naked bareback rides.
After taking a truth pill, Alan recounts the night Jill tries to seduce him, but when the horses startle, he finds he cannot get an erection.
As Alan confesses to conflating Nugget and another horse, Trojan, as Equus, he also tells Dysart that he worships them, even as he blinds them for having seen his soul. Dysart’s finals scene is spent questioning the methods and outcomes of his practice if Alan becomes normal.
Brockman has steered this dense and often disturbing production with a concise hand while giving the performances space to breathe. Likewise, his lighting is precise, all white side-stage pins and overhead spots, with a central low hanging white bulb that isolates the onstage action for attention.
Tautaiolefue’s performance of various horses, including Equus, is central to this production, being a controlled exercise in movement and pathos.
As Alan, Yeates shows that he is someone to watch, as he delivers a performance that is commanding as it is engaging. James-Moody is always a treat to watch, but as Dysart he wins with his emotional range and complexity of character that matches that of Yeates’ Alan.
Dora’s character could easily fall into that of a stereotypical Christian, but it is rescued by Gregg’s nuanced performance, as is that of Murray’s Frank. Nicholls-Gidley also gives a fine and rich performance as the magistrate, while Madsen gives a muscular turn to his three roles.
The cast and creatives for Equus have shone across this production, ensuring that it will make its mark in the Sydney theatrical calendar of 2026.
Equus
KXT on Broadway, 181 Broadway, Ultimo (Sydney)
Performance: Sunday 30 August 2026
Season continues to 5 September 2026
Information and Bookings: www.kingsxtheatre.com
Images: Ryan Yeates and Shalamah Tautaiolefue – photo by Daniel Boud | J. James Moody – photo by Daniel Boud | J. James-Moody Linda Nicholls-Gidley and Stephen Madsen – photo by Daniel Boud | J. James Moody, Cloud Fernandez-Montoya and Ryan Yeates – photo by Daniel Boud | Ryan Yeates – photo by Daniel Boud
Review: John Moyle