The gathering strength of Sunway University College's School of Performance + Media has been fun to track; their three graduating shows so far -- 3 Fat Virgins Unassembled (directed by Zahim Albakri), The Coffin is Too Big for the Hole and Lao Jiu - Ninth Born (directed by Chee Sek Thim) -- were interesting blips in the Klang Valley theatre calendar, even if these were not always stellar. Part of the attraction, arguably, was because those previous efforts consciously engaged with a Southeast Asian context: they were texts written and set in the region.

Staging Equus, therefore, signals a slightly different tack -- though it is one that promises to be no less intriguing, what with its (literally) animal appetites and psychiatric travails. Directed by faculty newcomer Melissa Teoh, Peter Shaffer's brooding and emotionally complex text -- which document a psychiatrist's attempts at understanding why a stableboy has brutally blinded six horses -- will prove to be a challenging final assessment. Cast members Bryant Kevin Alburquerque and Mark Pillay worship their lecturer, interpret the text, and tell us whether they are up to the test.

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You're both enrolled in Sunway University College's School of Performance + Media. Why study performance?

Bryant Kevin Alburquerque: Well, I was one of those kids in high school who didn't know what to do with life, until I saw this film about a cancer victim that made me realise that acting can imbue change in people. I want to do that.

Mark Pillay: It seemed like the most logical thing to do; everyone else was doing this Business and that Business.

What exactly does Melissa Teoh teach you, anyway? What's she like as a lecturer? Tell us everything.

BKA: Melissa teaches Stage Management (she's possibly the only formally trained stage manager in town), Production Design and Stage Directing. She's a great teacher: one of my favourites since joining the school. She is not only the most organised teacher I've ever met, she is also one of those people who are really empathetic -- she just knows when something is bothering someone, and she knows exactly what to say to boost your confidence up.

MP: She brought unto us her bag of treats from around the world and enlightened our primeval minds with priceless western education, much like Prometheus did for Bob.

What's Melissa like as a director?

BKA: As a director, she's great. Almost everything is done on time. Whenever one of us feels stressed on our character development, she talks to us. Her Stage Managing and Production Design skills helps the production loads, too.

MP: A devil or a witch -- take your pick. Melissa knows what we are doing better then we know what we are doing. If you put her in a soccer team it would win, even if it had the worst scores all season.

"Equus" is the first play put on by the School not written or situated in the region. What do you think of Peter Shaffer's bareback equestrian opus? How would you describe the text?

MP: It is a riveting text however you look at it. (Especially onstage under Melissa's sorcery.) The playwright confronts issues that are concurrent with what is happening to us even as we choose to conveniently ignore the truth of individuality subjugation.

BKA: I think the play is about how society rejects anything out of the “norm” -- but then again, nobody can say that this or that is not normal. If an individual thinks it, it is normal, and what right do we have to change that? Of course there are limits, but only to a certain extent; society has set the limit for its people and Shaffer wants his readers / audiences to know and understand this.

Quiz time! Expound on the following subjects: Sex and violence in religion.

MP: Circumcision?

The psychiatric profession.

MP: Unappreciated, and often mistaken for psychology with drugs.

Talking animals.

BKA: They are cool -- but I'm sure they would be exploited to the max and sent out to labs for research if they revealed themselves.

I understand that, in preparation for the play, the cast visited Bukit Tinggi for horse riding lessons. Tell us about that.

BKA: The visit to the horse stables was fun. The whole point of the visit was to get to know our subject: the feeling of riding a horse, how to groom a horse, how a horse feels, and so on. We had fun.

MP: It was simply magnificent, watching the city folk hop onboard and make majestic creatures look “stiff”.

Uh, okay. Tell us about your respective roles in the play. Mark, you play Frank Strang, atheist father to a religious, horse-loving son.

MP: It is quite difficult to play the character. It might seem easy to duplicate, since Frank is the sort of father figure that we all recognise -- but it gets a lot more complex when that father figure has a son with a problem he can't even imagine, coupled off with a wife who denies him sex.

Do you believe in higher powers?

MP: I am an atheist I don't mind admitting it! Just kidding -- I am a pious Catholic.

Why do you think about bestiality? When are some actions / desires just plain wrong? Where and how do you draw the line?

MP: It was just declared illegal in Holland. I guess when the Dutch think it's wrong it has to be.

Do you own any pets?

MP: I do. It makes for excellent fluff therapy after a long day but I don't think I come anywhere close to Alan Strang.

Bryant, you play the aforementioned Alan Strang, a young man who really loves horses. We're sure the challenges of such a role were considerable.

BKA: I really wanted the role of Alan when we first did the reading. I rehearsed it like crazy; it paid off, but they were moments when I wanted to pull my hair out. Alan is definitely the hardest character I've ever had to play, and probably one of the hardest I ever will. I remember stressing over trying to love horses and trying to love worshipping them. But, after talking to Melissa, I know now that all I really need is to understand that people like that exist -- and that why they do it is understandable. Really helped.

Don't get me wrong, though: I love horses, and I understand people worshipping Gods. I just don't love them as much as Alan, and I sure as hell do NOT have an altar at home to a horse god / slave named Equus.

Following in the footsteps of the strapping young men who have portrayed your character onstage, can we expect full-frontal nudity from you?

BKA: Erm ... there'll be no nudity.

Why not?

BKA: I'm sure you can understand why.

Sure we can't convince you?

BKA: They are restrictions, laws ... and reputation. Not my own, though. Actually, I would gladly strip for the role; I believe in following the script and the nudity is obviously an important part of the play. Miming it is upsetting, but I'll just have to live with it. It's not so bad.

What were rehearsals like? Charged with energy? Uncomfortable and embarrassed? Tell us a sordid story.

MP: We had good days -- and those were really good -- and we had bad days. I can't think of anything sordid. But, speaking of energy, I do recall one particularly energised performance after the ensemble was treated to J.Co donuts at Melissa's expense.

How do you feel about your impending performances? Ready?

MP: I love the work we have been doing, you bet I'm ready!

BKA: I'm really nervous about tonight, but I always am right before I go on stage, and it helps. I'm sure everyone will do their best.

Tell us a really bad joke about horses.

MP: Never stand behind a mare in heat during mating season, unless you look like one.

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Zedeck Siew writes and blogs for Kakiseni.

The Sunway School of Performance + Media presents Peter Shaffer's Equus, directed by Melissa Teoh and featuring performances by Aaron Teoh, Bryant Kevin Alburquerque, Eri Peng, Erica Tham, Mark Pillay and Zalikha Harun, runs from May 15th to 18th, 2008. Tickets at RM10. Details here.