Why Is The Character of the Nurse in Equus

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 8:51pm

I can't quite figure out why Shaffer would write this character into the piece. He seems to have done so much research and put so much thought into the play, but this character is such a throwaway. I would have figured he could have gotten rid of the character, but I guess she's needed. Why?
Updated On: 1/26/09 at 08:51 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 9:09pm

To understudy Hesther Saloman.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 9:17pm

Having just seen the show, I think the nurse serves as a very small character with a very large role. She brings news we wouldn't otherwise get... Alan's nightmares, his mother's visit... She seems to sympathize with him and the doctor.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 9:51pm

Well, I suppose I get her function, but I feel like a writer as equipped as Shaffer could have found more interesting ways to bring those bits of information into the play. He seems to be very theatrical with his writing, so I'm sure he could have found a more interesting way, so it just bugs me that the character is in the play. She really has not much to do, but deliver information.

One of my directing teachers told me when she attacks a play, she first discovers what each character's "spine" is. That means she figures out what the character's overall objective of the play is. I'm not quite sure what the "Nurse" would be? I mean, she honestly seems to be only in the play to serve as an "information" giver, which isn't much of anything.

[TBD2]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 10:00pm

I agree with Eponine.. She's a sympathetic and seemingly caring, yet minor character within the "hospital".

Perhaps this was a conscious attempt to portray a nurse in a mental facility that was the antithesis of "Nurse Ratched" from ...Cuckoo's Nest? Maybe reading too much into this, but the timing WAS close.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 12:11am

I think the actress playing her in the current revival does a fantastic job because she actually adds quite a bit to the character. I've seen it twice, and I notice she puts on a sort of walk, and sort of makes the most of a tiny part. It just seems so throwaway, but maybe TBD2? I mean, I guess I could see him doing that.

If I ever meet him, I'll have to ask, ha.