Patricia Zohn: Culture Zohn: Daniel Radcliffe Dismounts Potter and Mounts Equus

In 1973, when Equus , the highly dramatic play by Peter Shaffer first appeared, it caused all kinds of chatter. In the early seventies, we were still seekers and Equus delved into the nature of passion versus the humdrum and asked the question: isn't it better to be driven and mad than boring and quotidian? All methods that might help us find nirvana or connect to our inner creative selves were touted, adopted wholeheartedly, and then generally rejected in favor of something new. Psychiatry has managed to stay in vogue through successive generations of neurotics and psychotics though now the magic placebo that Dr. Dysart gives Alan Strang to get him to open up is more likely to be a dose of Prozac. No matter. The idea is, Alan has committed a terrible crime by blinding six horses and Martin is bound and determined to get the truth out of him. Leaping through the hot button topics of hidden lives, employment despair, bad, sterile marriages, pornography addictions, maternal ... (link)