Equus (1979)

The maquette for Equus is a little bit different than others in the collection: it was designed as part of the National Arts Centre's productions of both Peter Schaffer's Equus and William Shakespeare's Hamlet as part of the in-house theatre company's first season in 1979. English playwright Peter Schaffer, drew inspiration for Equus from a crime involving a 17-year-old boy who blinded six horses in a small town in northern England. The play focuses the work of psychiatrist Martin Dysar, who investigates a young man's religious fascination with horses. 

This scale model of the Equus set is 20cm (height) x 40cm (width) x 20.5cm (depth) and features a catwalk with spiral staircases at each end. Director John Wood gives insight into the inspiration behind the set design (quoted in in the production’s programme): “I must acknowledge the debt I owe to John Dexter, who directed the original production [of Equus], and to the play’s author, Peter Shaffer. It is their vision we have tried to recreate.”

The maquette has L-shaped scaffolding on each side, three tiers of amphitheatre-style benches under the catwalk, a rotating centre platform with benches on three sides at centre stage, and two benches facing the centre platform at either side of the stage. It’s made of foam, card, and light wood (perhaps balsa?). Two paper figures shaded in pencil have been placed on stage to represent the actors. 

This team of three had to be particularly careful when cleaning the maquette because it was delicate. In their initial assessment, they noticed significant dust accumulation, especially under and around the benches. There were also signs of material damage, minor water damage under the benches, and dirt on the external walls. They decided against using erasers to avoid further damaging fragile components, and to preserve the original pencil markings on the floorplan.

Instead, they tried combinations of soft brushes, cheesecloth, cotton swabs, and a small air pump for tight crevices. Cheesecloth was ineffective for deeper cleaning, while brushes provided better results, especially on the stairs. The cotton swabs were slightly more effective, but some residue remained as some of what initially appeared to be dust was disintegrating material and used a phone light to inspect shaded areas to ensure thorough dust removal.