As a minister, worship leader, and actor, I’ve constantly had to balance these roles. Either in a church environment or in a theatrical environment. Christian theology and theatre have never intersected for me. I’ve always kept each role separate in its own category. I felt each role was different enough that they would never cross over into each other’s world. Or maybe, they have crossed over and I just did not realize the connection. I never thought that the roles had any similarities. After taking this class, I’ve learned differently. According to Johnson & Savidge, there is a “symbiotic connection between theatre and Christianity; they are not just similar; rather they share major commonalities at the core of their existence. …show more content…
As the psychiatrist encounter the boy’s imaginary world, his own life is exposed as passionless and frozen. The play then tells the story of a boy, who because of his repressed sexuality, his religious mother and his hypocrite father, makes his own religion based on horses, the bible, and sex. The psychiatrist, who is not able to imagine anything like that, who has lost his passion for his wife and who walks around carrying an unfulfilled dream about passion, ends up envying the boy the ability to create and believe in a religion.” The beginning state of Equus opens with the two main characters. First, there’s Alan, a mentally disturbed 17-year-old young man who has had done a horrible crime. Second, Dr. Dysart, Alan’s psychiatrist, a complacent man who questions his profession and his relationship with his wife. The end state of these characters closes the scene; Alan getting the professional help he needs and Dr. Dysart was willing to take a look at pursuing his dreams. There are several themes we can consider that the play depicts; such as freedom, growth and development, God and religion. One of those themes I like to consider from the play is God and religion. Although, this play does speak to the audience from the perspective of a theological context. The audience may not initially see the play from that perspective. The story strongly points to Alan, his relationship to Jesus Christ, to his
Peter Shaffer’s play “Equus” attempts to find the balance between social responsibility and individual desire by taking two opposing characters on either side of the social spectrum. Allan’s upbringing leads him to place individual desire before social responsibility, while Dysart ignores his own desires to uphold his social duty. Using contrasting characters and symbolism the playwright explores the clash between these two concepts.
central to the play. I am going to look at only the first act of the
First, religion is the dominant theme in the play. Milcha portrays Religion in various ways in the script. Margarita and her family are staunch Christians who believe in God and Hail Mary. Whenever something terrible occurs, they always pray for example when Mel calls them peasants, simple people, and amateurs, they all go to pray. Margarita seeks for God's intervention when she sinks into the ocean, and no one was near to help her. After margarita disappearing, Simon asks god why everything had to be hard. Eduardo, on the other hand, asks God to take him instead of her children. He says they are his dreams and he loves them very much.
- Religion is one of the theme that has been featured in the play,it is crucial to realize that the play intends to expose a
Religion was a very important theme in the novel because when the plague hit Eyam, many of the townspeople believed that God was testing their faith. Families were not able to feel safe even in their own homes. Anys and Mem Gowdie got their lives taken away because they believed that they were
Egeon's woeful tale provides the audience with the appropriate background to the play, which begins in medias res, thus satisfying the requirements of narratio which constitute the first element of Evanthian and Donatian comic structure. That said, Shakespeare's prologue differs remarkably from its Plautine counterparts much more integrated with the play as a whole, it is framed by the revelation of Egeon's imprisonment in Ephesus, and the Duke's decree that:
Copyrighted in 1973, Equus by Peter Shaffer, authenticity is a main topic throughout the play and production in all setting, character and between dialogues. In existentialism; for one to live in an authentic life, the individual has to choose the distinction between the right and the wrong and must not make excuses in the outcome of their actions. Not only this, but in relation to John Fowles’s interview, an existential hero is considered one of “the Few” who are described to be “the good, the intelligent, the independent”, unlike “the Many” who are considered to be “the ignorant, stupid, and the easily molded”. In Equus, it is described to be a memory play held in the mind of Martin Dysart, after the incident with a boy named Alan Strang.
Ministry illustrates God’s message to His people, His message of Jesus’s unconditional love. I believe God can use theater to minister to the Christian community by making the bible come to life and help people see the truth about Jesus. When I performed with Enopion’s Eli’s Bethlehem Inn (a Christian theater production), we made the story of the newborn Jesus come to life by portraying the characters in the bible. The audience was able to experience God’s message for themselves and relate to the characters in real time. The show added value to the community by providing wholesome, family friendly entertainment. After the show was over several people approached me and told me how beautiful the show was and how much they enjoyed it. Their response
Throughout his childhood Alan was influenced by his mother Dora about religion but his father was against it. She would tell stories from the bible that interested Alan. She would encourage Alan to be religious and excepted her religion Christianity. Alans mother was a devout Christian who was versed in religious text. Frank was somewhat of an atheist who did not approve of Dora's faith. The faith for Dora was almost an escape from her marriage for Alan it was a vital force. Because of the divide with in his family Alan is torune on what to do. Alan is inflected by what his mother has told him but his held back by what his father has told him. The picture that Alan had up in his room of Jesus that was taken down by his father and replaced by the horse showed Alan what was expectable. Terry states "He was always mooning over religious pictures. I mean real kinky ones, if you receive my meaning. I had to put a stop to it once or twice! . . . Bloody religion it's our only real problem in this house, but it's insuperable; I don't mind admitting it." (28), Terry saw that Alan was infatuated with religious picture and felt that he need to intervene and stop it. The two sidedness that Alans house has created has caused Alan to only feel connection to religion because that is the only thing he has a clue about. He has been shut out of the world that he had to create his own god
Tom Shaffer’s play “Equus” tells the story of a psychiatrist, Martin Dysart, who treats a young adolescent who committed a savage act of blinding six horses with a metal spike. The young adolescent is a stable boy named Alan Strang who is the only child of an opinionated father and a genteel, religious mother. As Dysart uncovers the reasons behind the boys’ attack, he to faces his own issues. Shaffer uses a broad range of the English language to show the differences between his two main characters, Dysart and Strang.
Jeffrey, I agree with you in a way that film is a great means of communication and is a great way of getting a message across. I recently watch a movie called Leon: The professional and I felt in love with the movie. This movie inspired me to even try the fashion inside of it! haha. However, I do not think it is healthy for a christian to find a christian theme in secular movie, or get mad when there is a Biblical movie that are not exactly Biblical. We do need to acknowledge the connection between theology and cinema, but I don't think we should neccessarily put a same criteria on secular movies that have different purpose and message to send. For example, Noah, recent hollywood production based on the Bible was somewhat disturbing for me
‘Peter Shaffer’ uses ‘Equus’ as a device to standardize and make the abnormal acceptable. In reality many of the themes and actions dealt with challenge our sense of normality so by introducing an element of innocence into Strang’s character, we as an audience, are suddenly forced to connect and sympathise for him. The innocence is ultimately illustrated by Strang’s worship and love for Equus. Without the element of innocence it would be difficult to forgive his defiance of the ‘comfortable view’ of what is normal. Yet without the defiance we would be unable to forgive him for fitting the societies view of what is normal. Essentially this innocence is the element, which balances the personality of Alan Strang beautifully. Interestingly these are the very elements that Dysart is lacking. ‘That's what his stare has been
To be the only character in a comedy (not actually in a comedic situation) is a tough role to play. Egeon sets the tone for the play in the opening scene, by explaining his perilous journey to the Duke of Ephesus. Knowing this sad tale Egeon tells, the audience must be taken off guard—“Isn’t this a comedy?” Egeon’s
Work is a product of who we are and as Christians our work should show the Christ within us. God’s call for each one of us showcases the talents and gifts given to each person. When we do something, we are to perform the task as if Jesus himself hired us. The film industry is no exception to this rule. Film takes an imitation and seeks to portray reality. Because of this, a Christian in the film industry has the opportunity to use film as a medium for depicting the existence of truth, love, joy, and peace into the homes of its viewers. Being called to Christ-likeness is a call to project the image of Christ. The call to Christ-likeness affects not just who one is but what one does. Being a disciple of
Equus was written by Peter Shaffer in the 1970s, a time for great change in both culture and the field of psychiatry. In his play, Shaffer explores the conflict between social responsibility and individual desire, and the difficulty of finding a balance between the two. The playwright contrasts the characters Martin Dysart, an unsatisfied child psychiatrist, and Alan Strang, his seventeen year old patient, to explore the two extremes of the spectrum of duty and desire. Likewise, Alan’s parents, Frank and Dora Strang, are contrasted to demonstrate that individual desires can impact on the social responsibility of raising a child. Shaffer uses Christian symbolism in relation to Alan’s worship of