Arts

Cathedral date for Choir

The London Handel Orchestra will be joining the University of Essex Choir for a concert in Chelmsford Cathedral later this month.

Supported by Solicitors Birkett Long, in association with the University of Essex Foundation, the Choir will be performing Mozart's Overture from Don Giovanni, Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola and Mass in C Minor. They will be joined by Adrian Butterfield on violin and Jane Rogers on viola with sopranos Ditte Højgaard Andersen and Ann-Christine Göransson; tenor, Robert Burt, and bass, Peter Cox.

The University of Essex Choir will perform at Chelmsford Cathedral on Saturday 29 November. Ticket prices range from £20 to £5 and are available from the Arts Office on 01206 873261, e-mail arts@essex.ac.uk, or James Dace and Son Ltd on 01245 352133/262841.

Students perform Shaffer’s Equus

The Centre for Theatre Studies and the University’s Theatre Arts Society is staging Peter Shaffer’s Equus from 3 to 6 December.

For the first time, final year BA students undertaking Drama and Literature studies have been allowed to undertake independent study in their final year, making Equus the first practical project to be undertaken in the centre.

As part of their final year studies, Drama and Literature students, Gene David Kirk, Paul Fowler and Sean Carrigan will be academically assessed on the process and the performance of the play and their dissertations will also focus upon the play. The production is directed by Gene David, who earlier directed Aladdin and Shakers at the Lakeside Theatre, and will feature Paul and Sean as leading actors.

In the play, teenager Alan Strang is fought over by a religious mother and an atheist father and finds release in horses. But when something drives Strang to blind the horses with a metal spike, he is admitted for psychiatric treatment. In helping Strang, the psychiatrist uncovers elements in himself which he had previously been happy to leave hidden. The play concentrates on the relationship between the teenager and psychiatrist, and pinpoints the modern human spiritual quest.

The cast is made up of a mixture of BA, MA and PhD students at the University, and 70s graduate Robert Iles. Equus features nine principle characters with Paul Fowler as Martin Dysart, Sean Carrigan as Alan Strang, Robert Iles as Father, Frances Iles as Mother, Jennifer Corder as Hesther, Ami Sayers as Jill, Ben Gaytten as Horseman, and Stevy Bachtalia as Nurse. There will also be a chorus of 15 playing the horses, people on the street and the ensemble.

Gene David, who is President of the Theatre Arts Society, has also acted in several Lakeside productions, and played Pantomime in Comėdia del’Arte at the Royal National Theatre during the summer of 2002. Paul, who is Vice-President of the Theatre Arts Society, has also directed Talking to John, Bouncers and Bed in the Lakeside Theatre and has acted in many other shows including Aladdin.

Paul said: ‘This is an exciting project that combines the academic discipline of the dissertation with practical theatre work that is a classic of modern stage.’

Equus runs from 3 to 6 December at the Lakeside Theatre. Performances start at 7.30pm and tickets cost £4 (£3 concessions). To book, contact the Arts Office on 01206 873261 or e-mail arts@essex.ac.uk

Also in the printed November edition of Wyvern:

• You think you know cowboys and Indians?