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Ell Prep Class 95

14 May 2020

EQUUS

Historical Background

Peter Shaffer (1926–2016) was inspired to write Equus by the chance remark of a friend

at the BBC. The friend recounted to Shaffer a news story about a British youth who blinded 26

horses in a stable, seemingly without cause.Shaffer never confirmed the event or discovered

more of the details, but the story fascinated him, provoking him ‘to interpret it in some entirely

personal way’ (Shaffer).His dramatic goal, he wrote in a note to the play, was ‘to create a mental

world(“Set Text Guide:Equus”).

The play follows the structure of a ‘case history’ and Equus has been labelled by some

critics as a ‘psychodrama’. Equus premiered in London at the Old Vic Theatre on 26 July 1973.

The production was a huge success,impressing both audiences and critics alike and securing

Shaffer’s reputation as an important contemporary dramatist(“Set Text Guide:Equus”).

During the 1970s, Britain enjoyed increasing economic prosperity among the working

class. This influx of wealth, combined with the rise of consumer products, contributed to a

general rise in what can be described as “consumerism” within society as a whole. The explosion

of affordable, mass-produced technology hastened the homogenization of culture, ushering in

what Shaffer calls a “worshipless” way of life. By the 1970s, for example, the vast majority of
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British citizens owned a television set; the power of mass media is manifested by Alan Strang,

who sings advertising jingles in his psychotic state. In addition to the influence of consumer

culture, Shaffer’s play depicts powerful tension between traditional British values on the wane,

and countercultural values that had been gaining traction since the 1960s. The austerity and

religiosity of Alan Strang’s parents are pitted against liberal values such as freedom of

expression, a rejection of material culture, and the erasure of sexual taboos.("Equus Study

Guide”).

The advance of individualism

In the 1970s, when Equus was written and first performed, Britain was much more

socially progressive than it had been in the 40s and 50s. There was a growing movement of

individualism (people being interested in pursuing independence, as opposed to collectivism, in

which people worked together, as they had done during the war, for example).This individualism

led to a rise in interest in psychiatry and psychology, not just for those who had serious mental

health problems but also for those who had smaller issues or problems and were hoping to learn

how to manage their lives and increase their happiness(“Equus-Social Political Context”).

Equality for all

At this time, women’s liberation began to take hold in the UK, and women were

beginning to be treated more equally with regard to jobs and pay. In 1975 the government’s

Equal Pay Act of 1970 finally came into force and was supported by the Sex Discrimination Act

of the same year. Previously, women had been paid less than their male counterparts and had

been expected to leave employment on becoming mothers. Female empowerment appeared to

culminate with the election of Margaret Thatcher as Britain’s first female prime minister, in
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1979. Women experienced increasing sexual freedom with the spread of effective family

planning and the widespread prescription of the contraceptive pill. No longer were they subject

to multiple pregnancies either within or outside marriage(“Equus-Social Political Context”).

Industrial turmoil

The 1970s also saw financial hardship for many. Traditionally, Britain had relied on its

heavy manufacturing industry as a source of wealth and employment. However, in the face of

international competition, which led to declining markets and revenues, companies needed to

retrench. Inevitably this was resisted by trades unions and the era saw successive waves of

industrial unrest. Strikes occurred throughout the country – those by coal miners in 1974 resulted

in frequent power-cuts and people having to work a three-day week, to save on

electricity(“Equus-Social Political Context”).

Equus premiered in 1973, near the beginning of a decade largely characterized in Britain

by crisis and economic decline. Recovering from the ruins of World War II, Britain slowly built

prosperity on a moderately socialist model. Many private institutions were nationalized, but the

foreign debt tripled.The Labour government of the late-1960s lost ground due to the eroding

economic situation, especially the monetary devaluation crisis of 1967, in which the country’s

currency dropped precipitously against other world markets(“Equus-Historical Context”).

Although the economy improved slightly in 1969, the Conservative Party rose to power

in the election of 1970. Regarding foreign policy, the disastrous Suez Crisis of 1956, in which

England lost control of the vital Suez Canal shipping passage, suggested strongly that Britain

was no longer a major world power. Since the height of the British Empire in the early twentieth

century, important possessions had been surrendered (most significantly, independence was
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granted to India, one of the Empire’s colonial jewels, in 1947). Beginning in the late 1950s, the

British government followed a deliberate policy of decolonization, one that systematically

dismantled the country’s once vast system of colonies(“Equus-Historical Context”).

In the early 1970s the British government continued to struggle with inflation.Violence

plagued Northern Ireland, as battles between Protestant and Catholic factions continued to erupt.

Both problems would dog British governments throughout the decade(“Equus-Historical

Context”).

In 1973, Britain joined the European Community after a decade of controversy, agreeing

to participate in common decisions on trade, agriculture, industry, the environment, foreign

policy, and defense. (“Equus-Historical Context”).

Consumerism

Equus is, among other things, a work of biting social satire that attacks the comfortable,

consumeristic world of mainstream society.Alan Strang, the troubled teenager at the center of the

play, is presented in some ways as a visionary.He seems a holdover from ancient times who,

whatever one may think of his behavior, is deeply spiritual and in touch with nature.Even before

he commits the crime that brings him before the court and into psychiatrist Martin Dysart's

office, Alan is decidedly a misfit.He cannot find his place in a society that would rather bet on

horses than ride them.Indeed, one of Dysart's main worries about treating Alan is that he will

turn the boy into another consumeristic drone who views nature as a thing to be bought,

dominated, or paved over.The events of the play happen during an era when car ownership and

highway travel had quickly become a way of life.Thus, there was at least some justification for

Dysart's concerns about the "normal" state of society(“Equus -Context”).

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It's no coincidence that Alan, though a teenager, works two jobs.On weekends, he works

at the stables, far away from the buzz and bustle of motorized, televised society. On weekdays,

however, he works as a clerk in an electric appliance shop—a veritable hive of consumerism.

The postwar economic boom, coupled with the invention of the transistor radio in 1947, had

brought consumers in contact with a dizzying array of new and newly affordable appliances.

Shaffer highlights this fact in Scene 15 with an impressive roll call of brand names

—"Remington! Philco! Pifco!" These references reflect the savviness of a British consumer base

that knows exactly what it wants in radios, electric shavers, and other gadgets.Even if some of

these names are now little-known—or were never well-known outside the United Kingdom—the

point remains: consumption and modernity went hand in hand(“Equus -Context”).

Television was both a product and a driver of the consumer lifestyle. Because TVs and

computer monitors are now universal, it can be easy to forget just how recently television entered

the consumer market.Invented in the 1920s, TV became widespread in British households only

in the 1950s, when—not coincidentally—television broadcasting began to take off as well. It

should be noted that the BBC—Britain's oldest and most prominent broadcaster—had begun

television broadcasts as early as 1930. However, its TV channel remained secondary to its radio

stations as a source of news and entertainment until after World War II (1939–45). By the early

1970s, British viewers had access to an embarrassment of riches, at least by 1950s standards.

They could choose among three TV channels (BBC1, BBC2, and ITV), all recently upgraded to

color.(“Equus -Context”).

Frank Strang, Alan's father, calls TV a "swiz"—a cheat—in part because it is always

trying to sell something. In fact, television in 1970s Britain was not as advertisement-laden as in

the United States.Of the three channels mentioned, only ITV allowed commercials before and
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after its shows.Still, even this degree of commercialization was enough to stoke fears about the

social effects of television, even among those who otherwise cheerfully participated in the

consumerism of their day.In Scene 2 of Equus, Shaffer underscores the issue by having Alan

sing, angrily and out of context, a series of jingles. All are taken directly from British TV

commercials of the late 1960s and early 1970s—for products as diverse as gasoline, Typhoo tea,

and Doublemint gum.Just why Alan resorts to this particular defense mechanism remains up to

interpretation.However, it seems clear Shaffer wants audiences to appreciate a sinister dimension

in the influence of the TV set and of the culture it represents(“Equus -Context”).

1970s British Culture and Counterculture

Equus stages a conflict between the established, allegedly respectable culture of 1970s

Britain and the counterculture that increasingly commanded the attention of British youth.Apart

from a generic call for "Rock music" at one point in the stage directions, Shaffer does not make

direct references to pop culture. However, he does use the overall cultural changes of the 1970s

to set the stage for generational conflict. In particular, he repeatedly contrasts unconventional

religious views and relaxed sexual mores with the traditional culture's emphasis on monogamy

and Christian monotheism(“Equus -Context”).

Materialism is one element of the mainstream against which Alan rebels. He hates what

he biblically calls "the Hosts of Philco" and "the House of Remington." Another point of friction

between the mainstream and the counterculture is religion. In a work from the Victorian period,

for example, the religious attitudes and behaviors of Dora Strang would have been unremarkable.

Her piety, which looks overzealous to her modern contemporaries—especially her husband, but

also psychiatrist Dysart—would have been a typical part of the Victorian cultural landscape.
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Times have changed, however, as evidenced by the fact that Dora's husband makes no attempt to

hide his own atheism. Most Britons of the 1970s were members of the established Church of

England. This is the church whose "abstract and unifying God" Dysart holds up as the epitome of

modern religion. However, Britons' devotion was often "an hour on Sundays"(“Equus-Context”).

Alan's worship of Equus, though clearly distinct from anything practiced in the Church of

England, has overtones of the neo-pagan traditions that witnessed a resurgence in 1960s Britain.

These groups lay outside the cultural mainstream and often advocated a return to nature in their

rituals and sacred texts. In some respects this made them holdouts of an ancient way of life—like

Alan. Unlike mainstream Christian denominations, early neo-pagan groups also drew both

positive and negative commentary (often the latter) for their unabashed embrace of sexuality.

The Wiccans led by Gerald Gardner (1884–1964), for instance, tended to perform rites

"skyclad," or in the nude. As would-be "pagan" Martin Dysart wistfully notes in his monologues,

Alan's eroticized form of nature worship, conducted naked and on horseback, has an obvious

affinity to such practices(“Equus -Context”).

In British culture at large, sexual mores liberalized considerably throughout the 1960s.

The so-called sexual revolution had made previously taboo topics, such as premarital sex, much

more socially acceptable. The availability of oral contraceptives ("the pill") from 1967 lowered

the risk of unplanned pregnancies. As the term revolution implies, however, these changes in

sexual thought, discourse, and behavior did not occur without a fight. Traditional thinkers—

epitomized in Equus by devout schoolteacher Dora Strang—insisted sex belonged only within

marriage. They worried about the effect a sexually permissive culture would have on the younger

generation. Alan's angst over the prospect of sex with Jill may be complicated by his mother's

likely disapproval(“Equus -Context”).

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To a large extent, Shaffer´s play was based on a real social background of the 1970s Britain.The

period when Equus was published was characterized by undergoing several innovative changes

that originally started especially in the 1960s.These changes were closely associated with the

growing force of technology that started at the end of 18th century (Marwick qtd in Staskova

15).In the 1960s, the most important technological progress seemed to be almost completed,

which then enabled the shaping of a modern society. Since then, the new technologies

were radically influencing and dictating every aspect of social life (Marwick qtd in

Staskova 15).

Innovations immediately affected also the industrial sphere of the country.A lot of

companies and factories went through important re-developments and new were

established. The electrical industry produced more efficient electric appliances of all kinds

(Marwick qtd in Staskova 15),and also the chemicals industry started to produce new plastics,

especially laminate and laminated surfaces (Marwick qtd in Staskova 15). However, the most

significant was the gradual replacement of heavy industry with modern technological

industry(Marwick qtd in Staskova 15).For British economy, suffering from a recurrent crisis

(Marwick qtd in Staskova 15),these innovations were definitely more than beneficial.

As a result of growing competition, the necessity to build up the demand for the new

technologies and new sorts of goods (Marwick qtd in Staskova 17) created a new phenomenon of

a modern age.For newly established companies, the best way to reach success was

through advertisements in the media, especially television. Between 1960s and 1970s the

popularity of television was rapidly increasing. Compared to the situation in the 1950s

when owning a television set was a rarity, in the beginning of the 1970s about 91 per cent of

families in Britain already had one (Marwick qtd in Staskova 17).

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All of the changes mentioned were gradually moving the British society far from the

traditional Victorian model. One of the first series of decline of Victorian era was the increase

of drug consumption in the 1960s, especially of the amphetamines and newly invented

LSD (Marwick qtd in Staskova 18).Also the availability and use of marijuana increased, and

soon it became the most widespread drug amongst the youth. Probably, it was because of the

influence of the hippie drug culture of the US that spread almost all over the world. On the

contrary in the 1950s, all drug users were registered and even could receive the particular drug

on the National Health Service (Marwick qtd in Staskova 18).This system was created to

preserve the country from illegal drug trade (Marwick qtd in Staskova 18).

The parochial Britain suddenly seemed to be completely under the rule of

revolutionary permissiveness removing old restraints established by the previous evangelic

era. The absolute end of Victorianism was now undoubtful. However, this "flower power"

movement definitely introduced also some kind of sexual revolution.Generally, sex was

seen as a pleasure and not only an activity necessary to give birth a child, which was also

reflected in marriage. For about 65 per cent of married couples (Marwick qtd in Staskova 19)

sexual love became one of the most important things strengthening their relationship.

Even the attitude to pre-marital sex was more liberal. The interviews regarding the issue of

the pre-marital sex presented in professor Marwick´s sociological survey of British society are

clearly showing the clash between modern and traditional thinking - a young girl being raised up

in the traditional background believed that she should have waited with sex until marriage, while

a young boy influenced by modern views simply remarked: "If it comes along, you don´t turn it

down" (Marwick qtd in Staskova 19).Nevertheless, probably because of the revolutionary

conceptions of liberalism, the number of divorces between years 1961 and 1971 greatly
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increased, although it was not an evidence of decline of popularity of marriage (Marwick

168). Moreover, even homosexuals did not have to hide their orientation thanks to abolition of

the Sexual Offences Act in 1967 (Marwick qtd in Staskova 19).This legal measure allowed

persecuting homosexuals because a sexual act between two adults of the same sex was seen as a

crime (Marwick qtd in Staskova 19).

In 1967,another revolution came – the Abortion Act (Marwick 147),which was

completely against the provincialism of Victorian era.To avoid abusing of the new

legislation, the abortion was permitted only if it was medically or psychologically

necessary (Marwick qtd in Staskova 19).Moreover, a woman applying for abortion had to

be first registered on a waiting-list (Marwick qtd in Staskova 19).

However,older generations still lived in the shadow of Victorian faith (Marwick qtd in

Staskova 20) unable to accept the arrival of a modern age breaking all the traditional views they

were used to. On the contrary, the young generations seemed to be fascinated by the modern

concept of liberal, open and tolerant society, affecting all aspects of life.Unfortunately, the

different attitudes had intensified the social gap between these two generations, which even led

to hostility to the authority of the young(Marwick qtd in Staskova 20).

Portrayal of British Society in Equus

From the perspective of a traditional family, the Strangs, the play reveals the difficulties

the society generally had in accepting the innovations described in the previous chapter,

especially the sudden transition from Victorianism to the newly integrating social model calling

for equality and liberalism(Staskova 20).

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For affluent higher social classes the concept of equality was the end of dictating what is

and what is not acceptable for the whole society (Joyner qtd in Staskova 20).Despite,some

people still felt the allegiance to a particular social class and were not willing to give up this

class division of society. Shaffer did not omit to make reference to unequality of social classes

rooted in Victorianism.Dora and Frank Strang are of different social backgrounds, which

makes a visible tension between them.Especially for Dora it is difficult to reconcile with

her husband´s working-class origin.She, being of a middleclass origin, still cannot get rid of the

feeling that she married beneath her (Shaffer qtd in Staskova 20).

However, Dora and Frank are real examples of traditional Victorian values

characterized by strong emphasis on the importance of family and religion.Their son Alan was

already born to a modern society, which symbolizes the birth of a new age.The parents then

have to face an important question - according to what values to bring up the child? The

traditional ideology seemed to be in absolute decline at that time.Shaffer wanted to point

to the dilemma numerous British families had to struggle with. In fact, older generations of

parents had been brought up according to Victorian traditions and the new social model

was something absolutely uknown for them.However, the influence of modern thoughts was

inevitable. Worse, if the child was then brought up in some kind of mixture of Victorian and

modern values, as in the case of the Strangs.They are said to respect the Victorian values

but besides, they unconsciously accept some of the modern points of view, however, each in a

different way.Consequently, their contrasting priorities create a constant fight of power between

them, which leads to the inability to seriously agree on a joined approach to the

upbringing of their child. For instance, the religious mother wants to raise her child also to piety,

while for the atheist father it is an invincible problem; on the contrary, the father forbids
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his son to watch television, calling it "a dangerous drug full of violence causing stupidity and

taking concentration away" (Shaffer qtd in Staskova 21),while for the mother,watching

television is something everyone does (Shaffer qtd in Staskova 21),and so her son can do it

when the father is not at home. Their son Alan, or children in general, being brought up in such

an ambiguous background may then start to feel some personal inner chaos.(Staskova 21)

The most visible conflict between Victorian values and liberal society Shaffer

provides in Equus is especially Dora´s inability to accept new sexual mores. For her,"sex is not

just a biological matter, but spiritual as well" (Shaffer qtd in Staskova 22),), which suggests a

strong religious subtext. She tries to pass her ideas on Alan so that he did not find out what is

sex "through magazines and dirty books" (Shaffer qtd in Staskova 22).

Dora´s obssesive religious teaching forbidding sex as a purely bodily pleasure

unconsciously leads to sexual repression of Alan.The accumulating confusion of the

family and social background together with hormonal changes during the adolescence may

negatively influence the child´s mentality and behaviour and consequently result even in a

mental disorder.In order to run away from this personal crisis, Alan creates his own

harmonious world affording him pleasure. In his case it is the presence of

horses(Staskova 22).

Although Shaffer´s masterpiece primarily shows the problematic adaptation of

traditional generations to the newly established liberalism mentioned above, it is not

possible to overlook references to other most important changes that were affecting

British society from the 1960s.It was especially the increasing popularity of television and

advertisements shown in Alan´s singing of tunes from TV commercials: "Double your

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pleasure, double your fun with Doublemint, Doublemint, Doublemint gum" (Shaffer qtd in

Staskova 23); and also the increasing prestige of working positions obvious in Frank

Strang´s longing for some self-improvement in his job (Shaffer qtd in Staskova 23).

However, the topic of the origin of mental insanity as Shaffer presents in his

work perfectly depicts the main point of the so called nature and nurture discussion. In fact, it is

a dilemma of the 20th century, whether an individual is only a product of his genes, or a product

of environment and society he lives in (Paris qtd in Staskova 23), and how these two factors

interact with each other. However, this debate caused a lot of controversy that has divided the

psychiatrists into two camps – the biological and the psychological. The older generation,

insisting on a strongly biological paradigm established in the early 19th century, was not

able to accept the new modern stream (Paris qtd in Staskova 23). The necessity of a new theory

appeared as a result of the failure in identifying the biological abnormalities in psychotic patients

(Paris qtd in Staskova 23), and secondly the inability to provide a purely medical model to

explain these abnormalities (Paris qtd in Staskova 23). In the end of the 19th century, the

younger generation of psychiatrists, calling themselves the antipsychiatrists, was searching

for a new innovative attitude to the treatment of a patient via psychotherapy, or psychoanalysis,

and the so called "talking cure", rather than medical one. Moreover, together with such a new

attitude, the modern opinions dealing with the origins of mental disorders appeared. Now, it

was not only the biological predisposition, but also the environment and events in the patient´s

life (Paris qtd in Staskova 23) affecting his personality and mentality that played the crucial role.

Shaffer was well aware of the newly appeared dilemma of the origin of mental insanity

and clearly portrayed it in Equus. Dora Strang represents the more traditional biological

point of view while Martin Dysart is the representative of the modern psychological
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attitude(Staskova 24).Dora absolutely denies her and her husband´s fault in the

development of mental disorder in their child: "Alan is himself. Every soul is itself. If you added

up everything we ever did to him, from his first day on earth to this, you wouldn´t find why

he did this terrible thing – because that´s him" (Shaffer qtd in Staskova 24). On the contrary,

Martin Dysart, who may be partially considered Laing himself, is a typical

"antipsychiatrist".He treats his patients via psychoanalysis and, moreover, almost from the very

beginning of the story he feels Alan´s crime was a result of complicated family

background(Staskova 24)

Conclusion

To sum up, Shaffer´s Equus is based on the large range of motives to be

discussed.It provides the portrayal of the social situation in Britain during the transition from

Victorianism to the modern age that started especially in the 1960s.From the perspective

of the Strangs family it shows, how people were able to deal with such a radical and

unexpected situation. The clash of ideas, both influenced by the Victorian moral code and

modern thinking, between the parents Frank and Dora reveals the dilemma many older

generations of inhabitants had in deciding in which values to bring up their child(Stoskova 39).

To conclude, Shaffer´s Equus is the timeless play – although it was written 40 years

ago, its message still seems to be current. For instance, people will always discuss religion

because its potential of fanaticism in fact is the present day problem(Stoskova 39).

WORK CITED

“Equus-Historical Context”.https://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/performing-

arts/theater/equus#F.Web.Accessed 11 April 2024

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“Equus-Social Political Context”. https://crossref-it.info/textguide/equus/37/2708.Web.Accessed

11 April 2021

“Equus Study Guide”. https://www.litcharts.com/lit/equus.Web.Accessed 11 April 2021

“Equus-Context”.https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Equus/context/.Web.Accessed.11 April 2021

Joyner, Thomas. "Equus by Peter Shaffer." Thomas Joyner, Ph.D. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

Marwick, Arthur. British Society Since 1945. 2nd . London: Penguin Books, 1990.Print.

Paris, Joel. Nature and Nurture in Psychiatry. Washington: American Psychiatric Press,

1999. Google Book Search. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

“Set Text Guide:Equus”.Pearson,https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/A

%20Level/Drama%20and%20Theatre%20Studies/2016/teaching-and-learning-

materials/a-level-set-text-guide-equus.pdf.Web.Accessed 11.April 2021

Shaffer, Peter. Equus. New York: Avon Books, 1974. Print.

Stoskova,Veronika.”When a Moment of Love Becomes a Crime of Passion: Equus A Play by

Peter Shaffer”.Diss.” Masaryk

University,2013.https://is.muni.cz/th/fh4p2/Veronika_Stoskova-

bakalarska_prace.pdf.Web.Accessed 11 April 2021