“Equus” still packs a punch

Through April 21. 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. $22-$45. Actor’s Express (at King Plow Arts Center), 887 W. Marietta St., Atlanta. 404-607-7469. actors-express.com.

Bottom line: Still striking after all these years.

Some 40 years old now, Peter Shaffer’s incisive psychological drama “Equus” still packs a punch. As heady and voluble as it ever was, ultimately a greater intellectual exercise than an emotional experience, the play receives a strikingly realized production at Actor’s Express, courtesy of director David Crowe (“The Judas Kiss”).

The venerable Chris Kayser portrays Martin Dysart, a self-doubting British psychiatrist who specializes in treating troubled teens, opposite newcomer Kyle Brumley as Alan Strang, a seemingly timid stable boy who viciously blinds six horses with a metal spike.

Doctor and patient gradually form a precarious bond in the process of uncovering the deep, dark motivations behind the horrific crime. In a number of demanding existential monologues, Dysart weighs his own sense of “professional menopause” against Alan’s “ferocious passion” and he wonders aloud to the audience about which of their two lives is the more vital.

That it’s heavy, to be sure, is not to say that Crowe’s “Equus” ever feels heavy-handed. He imbues the play with an invigorating theatrical flourish that keeps it absorbing and alive. Working with expert scenic designers Isabel A. and Moriah Curley-Clay, he uses a large scrim at the back of the set to captivating effect for a few flashbacks and dream sequences. In another arresting moment, the set’s centerpiece (Dysart’s office) revolves to depict a late-night horseback ride.

Despite all of Shaffer’s talk, the rest of the show moves at the same brisk clip. Scenes occasionally shift from present to past in mid-sentence. In one breath, Alan’s telling Dysart something that happened; in the next, he’s reliving it in flashback as Dysart watches from a distance. Another interesting touch: Crowe’s supporting cast is positioned upstage throughout, stepping into scenes as needed and then resuming their seats.

The director elicits superb performances from Joanna Daniel as Alan’s patrician mother, Sarah Elizabeth Wallis as his unwitting love interest and Kathleen Wattis as the sensible colleague who refers his case to Dysart. Rial Ellsworth lacks a certain intensity as the boy’s father and, unwisely, Crowe seems to pitch his pivotal scene near the end for inappropriate laughs (based on reactions from the opening-night audience, at least).

Elsewhere, a nude love scene between Brumley and Wallis is delicately handled. So, in its own chilling fashion, is the climactic blinding sequence – utilizing six actors as the horses, costumed in equine hoof- and head-gear, their eyes eerily illuminated, and suggesting more with Mary Parker’s sanguine lighting than with any actual stage blood.

In the two incredibly complex lead roles, Kayser brings a suitably “antiseptic proficiency” to Dysart, whom Shaffer wants us to believe gains as much from the therapy sessions as Alan himself. And Brumley impressively conveys the kid’s vulnerability and confusion, although he doesn’t fully capture the underlying pain and anger of the character.

Even as it delves into matters of the heart and soul, in the end “Equus” is effectively stuck in its own head.