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Equus

Repertory Philippines has successfully staged it's mid year offering on July 25, Peter Shaffer's EQUUS. I am glad my wife and I were able to catch the last show at onstage cinema in Greenbelt 1.

Yes, this is the controversial play starred by Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) in 2007 at London's West End.  The reason it became talked about is because the main actor in the play is required by the script to go nude at some point and Radcliffe playing that kind of role is simply unimaginable for some people. Sure enough, that kind of buzz got us curious.

But before you start thinking porno, let me tell you that it's not all kinky as you might think....

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Marco Manalac and red Conception as Alan Strang
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Equus is a story of Psychiatrist Martin Dysart who meets his most challenging case in a young boy of seventeen , Alan Starng. Alan seems like an normal teenager born of a loving family. However, Alan's passion for horses has led him to behave in the most devastating way. Dysard must discover why this severely troubled teenager, has blinded the eyes of six horses with a hoof pick. Dysart slowly realizes that Alan has evolved his own bizarre religion where the horses are his gods. The therapy was long and stressful for the psychiatrist who in the process realizes many things about life, family, religion and -----himself.

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 when we watched, it was Red Conception who played the main role...

Miguel Faustmann played the role of Dr. Dysart with Marco MaƱalac as Alan Strang and Red Concepcion as alternate. Directed by Audie Gemora, the play was the first in the Philippines.

I found the narration on the first half of the show a bit boring. Of coarse, this is not Cats or Ms Saigon for me to have expected lavish costumes and all but the simplistic stage design and the fact that the 2 main actors were seen on the stage all throughout the play (and that means no changing of costume) dampened my excitement.Being a highly visual learner simply got me.

But the actors were very good. They even tricked me into thinking that the audio was recorded and that they were just lip syncing . It was almost the end of the show when I realized they were not . Thier delivery was simply flawless---complete with all the British accent. Red Concepcion and  Tami Monsod ( Dora Stang) , Roselyn Perez (Hester Solomon) and Pheona Baranda ( Jill Mason) all played their roles brilliantly.

For a person like me who is not articulate  in stage plays, Equus was surely a treat. I guess I am starting to like theater. I wonder what's next that Repertory Philippines will offer.

EQUUS

Equus was originally staged at the Royal National Theatre at the Old Vic in London in 1973. It was directed by John Dexter and starred Alec McCowen as psychiatrist Martin Dysart and Peter Firth as Alan Strang, the young patient. In 1976 it transferred to the Albery Theatre with Colin Blakely playing Dysart. It was also presented on Broadway at the Plymouth Theatre with Anthony Hopkins and Peter Firth.

The play received A Tony Award  for Best Play in 1975.

photo credits:
http://www.repertory.ph/

Comments

  1. i wanted to see this play, bago pa natapos. kaya lang walang gustong sumama.

    maybe pagnagkaroon ng repeat performance.

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  2. i have no idea how great Equus is but after reading this post, i wanna see :) well i went for a very nice broadway show when i was in NYC 3yrs ago, personally i like this kind of onstage performance as well :) flawless but somehow they really know how to move forwards if there's any mistake/little accident :)

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  3. gillboard--malay mo gawin nilang yearly yan. Repertory pa.

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  4. fuf--yeah...somebody made a slight mistake covering his mouth while talking so i realized that it was not recorded....true true--

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  5. im not a fan of plays, but i know the story of equus, courtesy of wikipedia, hehe.
    but if i can watch one for free, i might change my mind, hahaha.

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  6. I don't know... I'm really not a fan of theatrical plays... Practically I grew up watching various plays... world class plays either but never did it became my cup of tea.. I could appreciate the storyline and acting abilities not to mention superb production as such but there's a thing with plays that left me still not wanting to watch... I dunno...

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  7. Oliver---most Filipinos are. I guess much is to be done to promote theater so that it would be embraced by the masses. hahaha--free tickets pala habol.

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  8. I am Xprosaic--- at least nakapanuod ka na ng world class plays--- siguro dipa nakuha kiliti mo. give it more try.

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  9. i never had a background of this play/movie. sounds interesting.

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  10. dong ho-- you are more of an outdoor person kasi Dom. explorer.ito yung ginagawang ng mga taong tipong di makalayo kaya dyan lang sa tabi-tabi. hehe

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  11. Lucky you naabutan mo pa... ako hindi kaya ng sched... hehe kaya wala ako masyado blog about the local scene =/ wala akong social life hahahah

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  12. wow nice, gandan g shift ng interest ha, from photography to stage plays. may future ka fren!

    invite mo ko minsan Ɯ

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  13. KUMAGCOW --okay lang--meron ka namang 18k na workshop. bwahaha

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  14. chyng---hahaha. di kasi makagala like you.lol

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  15. weh? yung naked part lang pinanood mo diyan eh hahaha!!

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  16. @pk hahah sira, I needed that naman to get to the next level... I really needed to learn from the masters kasi =)

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  17. Hindi para sa akin ang mga ganitong stage performances kasi madali akong maboring. Sine na lang heheheheh. Pero sa pagkakakwento mo mukhang maganda nga yung story...

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  18. princess_dyanie ---medyo. hahaha. well, once you get hooked to the story, the whole sex part is just complimentary.seriously

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  19. KUMAGCOW---uo, next level, and next time. ikaw na Master. at mag-aaral ako sayo. me discount ako ha.lol

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  20. glentot---watch out for the next season. for sure me sususnod pa nito.

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  21. I've heard about this play before since a friend of mine saw it in London. He honestly flew to London just to see the naked Daniel Radcliffe lol. I was interested to see it as well since I love the theatre but I wasn't able to because I had classes during that time.

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  22. Charles BjĆørnsen Ravndal ---wow. such conviction. From Poland to Uk just to watch radcliffe...that's something. haha

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  23. bawat harry potter fan ata alam ito. haha.

    nice!

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  24. Allen---uo naman. malaking what???? yun e.

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  25. Poland? No, my friend was also from Norway, and London is just two hours by plane from our city. So, it's not really that far.

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  26. According to your description of the play, it looks really good. Pero I'm not really a big fan of stage plays eh >_<

    But if given a chance to watch this one, I'll grab it XD

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  27. Im glad na parang marami na yatang plays and musicals ang pinapalabas jan. Yung legally blond, Cats, then this...

    Sana ma maintain para tumaas ang Tourism

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  28. me movie lang ako..di ako mahilig manood ng ganyan..pero sa sinabi mo mukhang okey ito..

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  29. Charles BjĆørnsen Ravndal --bwahaha. sorry I made a mistake there, I checked your profile after I commented and it was too late.hehe

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  30. fiel-kun--a lot of Filipinos are---but if you give yourself a chance I am sure you will get hooked to it.

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  31. KRIS JASPER---uo. diverse na. pero yung Cats...subrang mahal. can't afford.haha

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  32. Arvin U. de la PeƱa--yeah. try stage plays one time....

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  33. Hi, I can't figure out ways to add your web-site in my RSS feed reader. Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong, please.

    ReplyDelete

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