I was quite excited to find an old copy of this in a used book store recently, and read it almost immediately. I knew very little of the play before I picked it up; I found it passionate, emotional, and haunting. Shaffer delves into the human psyche and passions with extraordinary skill. Equus is one of the best literary works I have read in a good while, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. ( )

I read this play to prepare for an oral interpretation of it for a school class. After reading the story, I want to see the Broadway version, and NOT just becuase Daniel Radcliffe (a.k.a. Harry Potter) stars in it. The plot of the play was so intriguing that I read it in 2 days. The plot deals with the human psyche and the underlying sexual desires we all have. The story was intriguing and scary as hell that kept me reading well into the night. ( )

I think this would have made a better novel. Your not allowed to look into the psychological aspects and emotions enough. ( )

A wonderful play, creepy as hell. When it comes to the States I'd see it in a heartbeat. ( )

Just reread Equus, by Peter Shaffer. Been a while since I read this, but it still stands up.

Equus is nominally the story of Alan Strang, a disturbed 17 year old who has been remanded into psychiatric care after blinding six horses by stabbing them in the eyes. In the psychiatric hospital, he is placed under the care of Martin Dysart, a child psychatrist, who attempts to work out why Alan has done what he has done - but in the process is made to face some truths closer to home.

While the play's title and narrative drive come from Strang and his actions, it's the examination of his own life, and wider truths, that Dysart is forced into that become the overall theme of the work. Ultimately, the play asks questions about the place of spiritual passion in modern life, and whether it is better to have a dark passion than to have none at all.

Controversial when first staged, it still retains a lot of its power to shock and jar; Shaffer wields that power to direct the reader/viewer towards the questions that Dysart finds himself wrestling with at the play's close.

Shaffer's play offers no definitive answers, but the questions it asks are provocative and worth considering.

I've never seen this performed on the stage, but I imagine it takes on even more power from being seen as originally intended rather than read. ( )