Disputing the truth of normality

‘What defines normal?’ is a question that has intrigued the curiosity of many of us. It was Charles Addams who aptly put that, ‘Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly’.

Staged at the National Academy of Performing Arts, an Urdu translation of Peter Shaffer’s play ‘Equus’, which has been directed by Sunil Shankar, attempts to address the very idea of normality which we try to put in binaries.

Translated into Urdu by Shankar and Nazr-ul-Hasan, the play, was earlier performed five years ago as part of the annual Napa theatre festival, but this time round the play would not be staged for a day only.

The play opens up with a monologue of a child psychiatrist, Martin Dysart (Nazrul Hasan), who explains a peculiar case on his hands, that of 17-year-old Alan Strang (Ali Hasan Junejo) who has blinded six horses using a sharp object.

Referred to him by his magistrate friend, Hesthe Salomon (Mehr Jaffri), Dysart embarks on a journey of self-discovery as he tries to ‘normalise’ the young man who has an infatuation with horses.  

He initiates a conversation with Alan who at the beginning only communicates with jingles from advertisements, but later on it is revealed that the young man has been raised in a household with clashing ideologies.

Alan’s parents, Dora (Shama Askari) and Frank (Saad Zamir Faridi), belong to opposite schools of thought, with the former being a devout Christian and the latter, an atheist. Alan grew up listening to Biblical parables and his favourite one is about a mighty horse.

While the cast members shown wearing horse-heads did give an insight about the importance of horse, the term ‘equus’ came later when Dysart figures out Alan’s obsession with horses.

Seeing Alan tend to the horses, one might think that working at a stable was his dream job but that’s the place that fuelled his vision. He is introduced to the stable owner, Dalton (also played by Saad Zamir Faridi), by a young woman named Jill (Natasha Humera-Ejaz) who takes interest in Alan.

Among all the horses, Alan gets attached to Nugget who also happens to be Jill’s favourite. Alan sneaks out at night to ride Nugget and surrenders to the special relation he has with him. Upon conducting many sessions, Dysart finally decides to give Alan a pill which would help him understand the acts which led to his gruesome act.

After the pill is administered, it is shown that Jill took him to watch an adult film where surprisingly Alan meets his father. He then deconstructs his beliefs regarding human relations as well as religion.

Later Jill asks Alan to head back to the stable for some privacy where Alan fails to respond to her because he feels that the horses are judging him for showing affection to another being. Out of sheer frustration he asks Jill to let him be as he rushes to the horses to prove his commitment, blinding six of them so they could not see him anymore. In the background Dysart can be heard telling him how Alan’s god is insanely jealous of him.

At the end, Dysart consoles Alan as he concludes the case and asks himself if ‘normalising’ the patient was all that was left for him to do. “Should I make him ready for the world where he would be taught to save enough so he can convert his scooter to a car?” Dysart puts forth the query.

While the play revolves around Dysart, it’s fascinating to see how he explores his life by realising that he is the one who also lacks passion and spends time pretending that all is normal, reminding the audience that being normal is indeed an illusion.

‘Equus’ is an intense play which has been penned down to make the viewers uncomfortable because it does not only question religious doctrine but also probes psychological repression in various forms.

Nazr-ul-Hasan who also played the psychiatrist in the last production is remarkable as ever, as is Junejo who manages to frighten in a few scenes of the first act. Saad Zamir Faridi who played Frank as well as Dalton is also proving his mettle as an actor.

Speaking about the play, Shankar said he decided to restage the play because he wanted to challenge the clichéd norms that define ‘normal’: “It is a very unconventional play and I always like challenging myself and throwing the possibility of thinking out of the box in front of the audience.”

Speaking of recasting Hasan, Shankar said he translated the play with him and understood the character very well. Shankar, who has tried his hand with other absurdist plays such as Edward Albee’s ‘Who killed Sylvia’, felt that we needed to ask what actually defined taboo.

“I ask, for how long would we feel scared to touch upon these issues and why not? Because they hit our most vulnerable points, because they provoke us to see within?” The two-and-a-half hour play will be staged at Napa till October 29; children under the age of 14 are not allowed.