EQUUS
So, yesterday I took an excursion into London and went to see Equus. In short, I loved it. The play itself is very good and I thought the acting was really well done on most accounts. There was only one actress who I didn't quite care for, and what I didn't like about her was rather minor. I was a little bit surprised at the play generally because when I had heard it described by people who'd seen it, no one really seems to have hit the mark of what it's really about. Yes, it's about a boy who blinds 6 horses and the story centers around why he did it, but essentially it's really more about religion and sex.
It was really interesting to see Daniel Radcliff in a different role. All around, I was pretty impressed with him. For a 15 (or is he 16 now?) boy taking on such a serious and demanding role, he did remarkably well. As for the nudity (because I know everyone will ask if I don't mention it) it was done very appropriately. In actuality, even though there are two people standing completely in the nude during the climactic scene, after the first moment, you don't even notice it because the scene is so incredibly intense that you just become completely wrapped up in it and the nudity is forgotten entirely. During the whole scene I was practically frozen in my seat, I was just blown away by the intensity.
Richard Griffiths did well, also. His role is a difficult one because it's all words. He's on the stage for the entire 2.5 hours and a majority of the dialog is his. So if his performance becomes dull for even a second, the audience is lost. But I felt he did a nice job at making it interesting and keeping me captivated. He also brought some really nice moments of comedy to what is a very serious role/play.
One other thing that I really enjoyed was the depiction of the horses. No, there were no real horses, although I've heard they tried doing that once in another production. But I felt that this method was much more interesting. Basically there were six actors (6 very muscular and beautiful men) dressed in brownish body suits, and then they had created these horse heads out of some type of metallic-looking shiny material which fitted onto the men's heads. And the part I particularly liked was that they had also fitted them with horse hooves made out of a similar material. The effect of this was that every time "the horses" walked across the stage they made the sound of horse hooves which really added to the effect of the whole thing. Also, the actors were fabulous in their imitation of horses. They did a lot of the common movements that horses make when they're scared/excited/upset/ etc. It was really brilliant, and totally beautiful in a way. Much more artistic and interesting than having live horses on stage, which let's face it, could go horribly, horribly wrong. How much fun would it be to finish a show on a stage with a pile of stinky, steaming horse poo on it?
So after the show I decided to take a stroll around the building and look for a stage door. I wasn't incredibly intent upon meeting Dan, but I thought, "Hey, I've got 2 hours before I catch my train and it would make all my HP friends jealous, so why not?" So I found it along with several other girls and waited outside for a bit. However, there was a sign on the door stating that neither Mr. Griffiths nor Mr. Radcliff come out during performances (I had gone to the afternoon show). I guess this is mainly do to the fact that the performance is rather tiring for both of them. Richard Griffiths is on stage the whole 2.5 hours as I said, and Dan has a lot of screaming and rage. So I guess both of them eat afterward and then take naps.
But in any case, after about 5 minutes of standing there a man came out holding a stack of fliers which were signed by Dan. He began handing them out and just as I was about to take the last one, my fingers were literally brushing the sides of it, an 18-20 year old boy standing behind me shot out his arm, and his arm being longer than mine, was able to snatch it from my grasp. I wasn't really all that disappointed because I'd really rather have something that I got signed, not just some generic flier. But I just couldn't help laughing at the fact that an 18 year old boy was more eager to have a flier signed by Daniel Radcliff than I was. I can only hope he was either gay or planning to sell it on e-bay.
In general I was surprised to find that the male fans were much more eager than the females. There were about 3 guys standing there. One, the aforementioned boy who took my flier, and 2 others about his age. While we were standing outside the stage door, 2 elderly ladies I recognized came out. I recognized them because I had talked with them briefly as we stood in a queue for the toilet during intermission. When they came out, one of the boys demanded of them if they had met Dan and one of the ladies answered yes, that they were friends of Dan's family. So now I can brag I know friends of Dan's. Anyhow, I was overwhelmed with giggles at the intensity of the male fans. It was pretty astounding, but I guess Daniel is just popular all around.
So anyhow, it was a lovely little trip into London and I enjoyed myself immensely.
Post-Scriptum: There's some pictures from my day in my London gallery.
It was really interesting to see Daniel Radcliff in a different role. All around, I was pretty impressed with him. For a 15 (or is he 16 now?) boy taking on such a serious and demanding role, he did remarkably well. As for the nudity (because I know everyone will ask if I don't mention it) it was done very appropriately. In actuality, even though there are two people standing completely in the nude during the climactic scene, after the first moment, you don't even notice it because the scene is so incredibly intense that you just become completely wrapped up in it and the nudity is forgotten entirely. During the whole scene I was practically frozen in my seat, I was just blown away by the intensity.
Richard Griffiths did well, also. His role is a difficult one because it's all words. He's on the stage for the entire 2.5 hours and a majority of the dialog is his. So if his performance becomes dull for even a second, the audience is lost. But I felt he did a nice job at making it interesting and keeping me captivated. He also brought some really nice moments of comedy to what is a very serious role/play.
One other thing that I really enjoyed was the depiction of the horses. No, there were no real horses, although I've heard they tried doing that once in another production. But I felt that this method was much more interesting. Basically there were six actors (6 very muscular and beautiful men) dressed in brownish body suits, and then they had created these horse heads out of some type of metallic-looking shiny material which fitted onto the men's heads. And the part I particularly liked was that they had also fitted them with horse hooves made out of a similar material. The effect of this was that every time "the horses" walked across the stage they made the sound of horse hooves which really added to the effect of the whole thing. Also, the actors were fabulous in their imitation of horses. They did a lot of the common movements that horses make when they're scared/excited/upset/ etc. It was really brilliant, and totally beautiful in a way. Much more artistic and interesting than having live horses on stage, which let's face it, could go horribly, horribly wrong. How much fun would it be to finish a show on a stage with a pile of stinky, steaming horse poo on it?
So after the show I decided to take a stroll around the building and look for a stage door. I wasn't incredibly intent upon meeting Dan, but I thought, "Hey, I've got 2 hours before I catch my train and it would make all my HP friends jealous, so why not?" So I found it along with several other girls and waited outside for a bit. However, there was a sign on the door stating that neither Mr. Griffiths nor Mr. Radcliff come out during performances (I had gone to the afternoon show). I guess this is mainly do to the fact that the performance is rather tiring for both of them. Richard Griffiths is on stage the whole 2.5 hours as I said, and Dan has a lot of screaming and rage. So I guess both of them eat afterward and then take naps.
But in any case, after about 5 minutes of standing there a man came out holding a stack of fliers which were signed by Dan. He began handing them out and just as I was about to take the last one, my fingers were literally brushing the sides of it, an 18-20 year old boy standing behind me shot out his arm, and his arm being longer than mine, was able to snatch it from my grasp. I wasn't really all that disappointed because I'd really rather have something that I got signed, not just some generic flier. But I just couldn't help laughing at the fact that an 18 year old boy was more eager to have a flier signed by Daniel Radcliff than I was. I can only hope he was either gay or planning to sell it on e-bay.
In general I was surprised to find that the male fans were much more eager than the females. There were about 3 guys standing there. One, the aforementioned boy who took my flier, and 2 others about his age. While we were standing outside the stage door, 2 elderly ladies I recognized came out. I recognized them because I had talked with them briefly as we stood in a queue for the toilet during intermission. When they came out, one of the boys demanded of them if they had met Dan and one of the ladies answered yes, that they were friends of Dan's family. So now I can brag I know friends of Dan's. Anyhow, I was overwhelmed with giggles at the intensity of the male fans. It was pretty astounding, but I guess Daniel is just popular all around.
So anyhow, it was a lovely little trip into London and I enjoyed myself immensely.
Post-Scriptum: There's some pictures from my day in my London gallery.