November 3, 1988
THE LANCE
Theater Group Presents Equus RcvicWS
Frank Strang (Hamilton Goodman) scorns the young horseman (Mark Simmerman)
during the rehearsal of St. Andrews'production of Equus.
Beth Russo
On October 20,21,and 22, Sl Andrews
Department of Theatre presented Equus,
written by Peter Shaffer. Equus won the
Tony Award for Best Play of the Year in
1971 Allen Strang, the lead character, was
portrayed wonderfully by Matt Sutherland.
Allen is a disturbed young man, who feels
that the piercing stares of horses mocks a
moment of impotency. As a result, he blinds
six horses. Charles Mann played Dr. Dysart,
a psychiatrist with passion and intensity.
Sutherland and Mann worked well together
in portraying the tormented youth and the
Hiroaki Sato
That First Time:
Renga on Love and
Other Poems
Pam Whitfield
Just what is a renga? Sato has his own
definition which, incidentally, is a renga
itself.
“Tilted and distracted, I decided to
compose a renga — the renga being the
poetic form best suited to someone who
can’t concentrate.”
Sato has even included a guide to
composing this “poetry made lazy,” notes
on renga and on writing renga in English,
at the end of his book. Sato seems to
beat Walt Whitman at his own game, the
expression of individuality, for what better
way to do this than through sexuality?
The sensual undercurrents in the early
poems give way to sexual overtones in the
group of renga sequences. Sato is a man
who has loved, lusted, and lost, and
doesn’t mind telling about it. He shares
short, intimate moments such as this verse
from “Three Pieces For Nancy”:
When Nancy matutinally bends forward
for underwear her whole being blooms
into a perfect globe, an arse smiling.
Sato tends to be both reverent to life and
ineverent toward society’s conventions.
confused psychiatrist. Other important
characters were Alan’s father and mother,
played by Hamilton Goodman and Ingrid
Sholz, and J ill, a girl who gets involved with
Alan, portrayed by Mary Catherine Gibson.
The climax of the play was the scene where
Alan, under hypnosis, reenacts his crime.
The audience was left feeling drained, after
Alan slashes at the horses, with the rest of the
cast chanting “Equus.” The curtain call was
well received, and rightfully so, because this
was a thouroughly enjoyable production.
His tongue-in-cheek descriptions of the
more mundane show him laughing at
himself, his friends, and people in general.
He even manages to ask some very
important questions like, “Why in pom is
the director the husband of the female
lead?”
But Sato is serious about his subjects.
One especially haunting poem, “Grandfa
ther,” describes a rice paddy village wres
tler who’s final round was fought against
cancer.
Sato’s poems will be remembered not
so much for their clever use of language as
for their ability to touch a chord in the
human heart, one which resounds with the
affirmation of “this is who I am.” Pub
lished by the St. Andrews Press at a list
price of $14.00, That First Time is avail
able to students and staff at a 30%,
discount and may be purchased from Lea
Howard, ASC, or Lisa Gaw, Fortner
Room, to students and staff at a 30%
discount and may be purchased from Lea
Howard, ASC,,or Lisa Gaw, Former
Poom.
Desmond Egan Terre Et
Paix^ Poemes d’Irlande
Presses Universitaires de
Lille
Tanya Olson
Desmond Egan, the Irish poet who will
be here at St Andrews next year (89) for
the Ezra Pound night at Writers’ Forum,
has a new selection of poetry out entitled
Terre Et Paix, Poemes d’Irland. Terre Et
Paix is a selection of Egan’s poetry from
1972 to the present, but it manages to
present these old poems in a new light,
mainly by juxtaposing side by side the
English and French texts. Whether the
reader knows any French beyond “crois
sant” matters not, for the French transla
tions serve to bring out the strongest
points of Egan’s writing, especially his
sense of musical and rythmic ability. This
rythm is present in the English texts also,
but reading without comprehension in
French brings out the true musical quality
of the poetry, especially in the selections
from Athlone? and Seeing Double.
This lyrical ability sometimes makes
Egan strikingly reminiscent of Ezra Pound
in several places. Despite the fact that
Egan writes several poems about Pound
(“Late But! One For Ezra”) and notes him
as an influence, it would be unfair to both
to call Egan the Irish Pound. One influ
ence that Egan and Pound both share is the
Japanes Noh and haiku, a fact especially
apparent in the poems from Egan’s early
years, such as the selections from Leaves.
Egan is most delightful though when
writing about the tales of an Ireland past
and the troubles of present Ireland. When
writing about the past (“The Pursuit of
Diarmaid and Grainne,” ‘Three Songs
From ‘The Story of Oisin’”), Egan is at his
most musical as one can practically hear
The Chieftans, The Dubliners, or even the
Edge playing an Irish tune behind the
words.
When writing about the future of
Ireland, Egan is at his most poignant, most
notably in “Young, Gifted and Unem
ployed,” arguably the best poem in the
whole series and one which discusses the
problem Irish youth face in finding work
in their own country. The only real
disappointment with this selestion of
poems is that it is not a collection,
although Egan has one of those out also,
as several favorite poems are missing (the
rest of “Poems for Northern Ireland,”
“New Symbolists,” Irish translations, and
“Pound’s Castle”). It is difficult to get too
much of Desmond Egan, who at his best is
an Irish poet successfully carrying all the
luggage that tradition implies, but is
stillable to step away from all that and still
be magnificent
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