[HPFGU-Movie] Re: Harry Potter ditches the glasses and all his clothes

[AnitaKH]

artsylynda at aol.com wondered:                                  I watched the DVD of "Equus" the other day, which has tons more  nudity than 
 one scene.  The newspaper articles keep emphasizing the one  nude scene while 
 galloping on a horse.  Somehow they have to simulate the  horse - he can't 
 gallop on a live horse on a stage, that isn't safe, nor is  there room (even with 
 rubber shoes, there's a danger of the horse slipping and  falling unless they 
 install rubber mats or something).  So how to they  "simulate" a horse on 
 stage?  Any of you who've seen the stage show care to  explain?  Thanks!


akh answered:


While I have to admit it's been a while since I've seen the play (and even longer since I've read it), I only remember two scenes in the play that involved nudity.  The first scene is his ride on the horse and the second is his tryst with a girl in the stable.  I won't go into specifics for anyone who would like to see the play "unspoiled."  


The production I saw used actors in costume for the horses, and I believe that's in the stage directions.  Before you start thinking cheesy horse suit, they built wire headdresses that resembled horses' heads, and they wore shoes with wire lifts shaped to resemble horses' hooves.  When Alan rode the horse, he was riding piggy-back on the back of the actor.   In this production, the horses surrounded the playing area of the stage at all times.  Two friends of mine were horses, and they said it was actually physically taxing having to stand throughout the play, plus moving in a horse-like manner while standing on stilts, essentially when they were playing horses.

Others may have seen a different treatment of the horses than this one, but the effect was very striking and I thought it worked brilliantly.  Can you tell I loved the play?

akh, a big fan of both Peter and Anthony Schaffer (and I know they spell it two different ways).








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