Review: Equus

Equus by Peter Shaffer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the latter half of the 20th century, talk therapy was viewed as a kind of treatment for mental illness. Despite the fact that it isn't at all effective in treating psychosis, and is rarely effective in lessening symptoms of other mental illnesses, writers seized upon the idea of that dramatic breakthrough moment. In this play Shaffer asks what would make a young man do something so heinous as blinding horses, and decides that it's a fair cop, but society is to blame, because culture is trivial these days.

Yeah, in the 70s that passed for deep thought.

So, it's a stupid premise, but a great bit of drama.

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