The British Council will present the Joint Effort Company in Peter Shaffer's EQUUS at the British School Auditorium from 18 to 28 October.

The play is directed by Steve de la Zilwa returning to work on the stage after a lapse of 9 years.

EQUUS, the play, is basically a psychological mystery, exploring the reasons why a 17 year old young man blinded six horses. The play proceeds with the psychiatrist Dr. Dysart directing a reluctant, but desperate, Alan through a series of flash backs to get to the root of the crime. What would cause a man who worshiped horses to blind them with a spike?

In 1978, Ceylon Theatres presented EQUUS at the Lionel Wendt Theatre in Colombo. This sell out production is to date critically acclaimed as the most significant theatre ever produced in Sri Lanka.

The original award winning and long running London production of 1973 moved to New York with Anthony Hopkins in the lead role. Subsequently it was made into a movie by Sidney Lumet, with Richard Burton.

Earlier this year EQUUS was revived in London with Daniel Radcliffe, the star of the Harry Potter movies, playing the role of the young boy.

Rohan Ponniah who plays the role of the psychiatrist, was introduced to the stage by the legendary Lucien De Zoysa in 1971. Ponniah, has through the years that followed dazzled audiences, acting in over 40 plays staged in this country and even in England where he played the title role in a Sussex University DramSoc production of Othello.

This production of EQUUS has a strong cast of actors which include Ranmali Mirchandani, who played the title role in "Anna Weiss", Shannon Raymond, the famous dancer, choregrapher and actor, Tracy Holsinger, a foremost figure in the contemporary theatre world, Dominic Kellar, fresh from his success in "Blood Brothers", and the up and coming amazing Hiran Abeysekera, recently seen in Scott Richards' workshop production of "Romeo and Juliet" in the Hilton gardens.