Ranan’s staging of Equus

Peter Shaffer’s dark and brutal play Equus was staged by the theatre group Ranan at Gyan Manch. I am glad I did not give this a miss. The rave reviews Equus received in London where the central character was played by Daniel Radcliff had me fascinated.
Ranan has presented the play a little differently in its visual aspect, experimenting with classical dance making it all the more intriguing.
Alan Strang, the 17-year-old boy, torn between his passion, his beliefs, family pressure and the adolescent conflict held his place wonderfully. The psychiatrist had the toughest role, I believe. She was a bundle of conflicts herself, coming to realize by the end of the play, the futility of categorization of normalcy from the societal view point and asks herself, What dark is this?
It was evident that besides two of the characters, the others were not comfortable with English and this does jar at times. Nevertheless, the dances, the costumes and the lights made up for it. Vikram Iyengar has really done a commendable job.