Joel Ryan, Associated Press Daniel Radcliffe strips away his Harry Potter character for the new London theater production of Peter Shaffer's "Equus."

By Jill Lawless
The Associated Press LONDON -- Hermione, we're not at Hogwarts anymore.

That's enough about Harry Potter -- the distorting but inescapable lens through which a new London production of Peter Shaffer's "Equus" will be viewed. The show marks the West End debut of Daniel Radcliffe, known to millions as the boy wizard in the film adaptations of J.K. Rowling's best-selling novels.

It is, as has been repeatedly noted, a bold choice for the 17-year-old actor. Long before opening night, the media was chronicling the swearing, smoking, sexuality -- and, especially, the nudity -- required of Radcliffe.

An anti-smoking group criticized the actor for sparking up onstage. Warner Bros., the studio behind the Harry Potter movies, issued a statement denying reports that it was unhappy with Radcliffe's edgy new image. The studio said it considered Radcliffe a "great collaborator" and supported the "artistic choices he makes as an actor."

"I sort of expected it really," Radcliffe said Tuesday about the controversy over the play's nude scene. "If I went into it thinking nobody was going to talk about it, I would have been very stupid."

The publicity has helped the production sell $3.1 million worth of advance tickets and drew a host of stars -- including Bob Geldof, Helena Bonham Carter and Christian Slater -- to Tuesday's opening-night performance at the Gielgud Theatre.

The play is indeed a brave choice, but also a sensible one for a famous young actor who has said he wants "to shake up people's perception of me."

Almost grown, lightly muscled, sporting the first shoots of a beard, Radcliffe is well suited to the role of Alan Strang, a young stable boy sent to a psychiatric hospital after committing a brutal, seemingly inexplicable crime -- he has blinded six horses with a metal spike.

For the most part, Radcliffe's performance is assured. His vocal range may be a bit narrow -- he has a tendency to convey Strang's anguish by shouting -- but his hooded eyes and hunched, defensive posture convey a wounded and bewildered young man. And when he finally lets loose in the climactic 10 minutes of nudity, he is emotionally unrestrained and compelling.

Radcliffe is fortunate to star opposite the endlessly subtle Richard Griffiths, Harry's dastardly Uncle Vernon in the Potter movies and a Tony Award winner last year for "The History Boys." Griffiths portrays Martin Dysart, the psychiatrist who slowly unravels the teenager's obsession and comes to envy his intense, transgressive communion with the horses.

This production will pack in the crowds thanks to Radcliffe's fame and the unstoppable Harry Potter brand. It deserves to succeed on its own merits. Radcliffe proves he can shed, at least temporarily, the boy wizard's robes.

"Equus" is on view until June 9. Radcliffe returns as the teenage wizard in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," opening July 13.

Here's what some London critics are saying:

Charles Spencer, writing in The Daily Telegraph, said although "Equus" was full of "phoney baloney" and "pseudo-profundity," Radcliffe had shown he was more than just a middling movie wizard. "[He] brilliantly succeeds in throwing off the mantle of Harry Potter, announcing himself as a thrilling stage actor of unexpected range and depth," Spencer said.

The Times' Benedict Nightingale said there should have been only two questions on the audience's mind: "Is the boy wizard enough of a wizard to merit a place on stage beside Richard Griffiths? And how does Peter Shaffer's play stand up 34 years after its premiere?"

He said that while Radcliffe had proven himself on the stage, "The second question is that, though gripping and theatrically skillful, 'Equus' is at the root dated, pretentious, and even a bit pernicious."

The sentiment was echoed by Michael Billington, who wrote in The Guardian that the play romanticized pain. But he agreed "Equus" showed Radcliffe was "no flash in the magic pan."

"Forget all the prurient press speculation about Harry Potter's private parts," he said, referring to the scene at the end where Radcliffe is nude. "The revelation in this revival is that Daniel Radcliffe really can act."

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Coming on the Web: Post-Gazette theater critic Christopher Rawson will report on "Equus" from London next week at post-gazette.com.