Article: WA Today: Wednesday June 10th, 2009

William McInnes jumps back into the saddle for Equus

• Daile Pepper
• June 10, 2009

Author William McInnes will star in Equus. Photo: Lorrie Graham

He's jokey, he's Aussie blokey and about to step back onto the stage to play one of the most challenging parts in modern theatre.

William McInnes, Australian Film Institute award winning actor, loves to share a laugh and tell a tale.

Like the time he needed to ride a horse for a job and flailed about atop the animal brandishing a stockman's whip after the horse's backside was pinched and it raced off. There was no useable footage captured.

Or when he took part in a dodgy Perth play back in the day and a peacock "went off its trolley" after a coffin was dropped on its babies.

Or being scoffed at by a "wanker" bartender at The Queens years ago when he asked for a Stella Artois but failed to pronounce the second word in a suitably stuffy manner.

The actor was trained at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts and has fond memories of the State.

"One of the funniest nights I've had in Perth, was when I lived in Bennett Street and there was a little Macedonian club in North Perth," he said.

"There was a Swiss night and they were all dressed up in lederhosen and yelling Woo Hoo! They did something with milk barrels. It was surreal, I had a great night."

Mc Innes will return to Perth this September to play the lead in one of the most well-known provocative plays of modern times, Equus.

The contemporary classic by Sir Peter Shaffer will be brought to town by the Perth Theatre Company and His Majesty's Theatre - the first time the work has been performed outside Broadway and London's West End for about 30 years.

The story, recently performed to critical acclaim by Richard Griffiths and Daniel Radcliffe on Broadway, is a provocative and challenging piece of drama.

McInnes will play psychiatrist Martin Dyrst, who works with a younger man who has an unhealthy fixation with horses following a horrific attack by the boy on a number of the animals.

"It's always good to test yourself out with a role this size, give yourself a bit of fright and get back in the saddle," McInnes said during a short trip to Perth.

"Not that I want to use the horse metaphor too much."

McInnes will star with young Austalian actor Khan Chittenden, who has most recently been seen in Packed to the Rafters, Dangerous and Clubland.

He said it was exciting to get back on stage after spending more of his time writing books and doing less challenging jobs in film and television.

"This is a play that puts big ideas out there for people to think about," he said.

"It's about what life is and how you live it, how you should live a life. What is important. It's a really fascinating play, some of it's pretty macabre and out there.

Equus will be the first time he has stepped onto the stage since performing in My Fair Lady a few years back. He makes no apologies for the confrontational themes, saying theatre was not all about songs, smiles and fart jokes. Though it was important to not get caught up in believing the work was so important it wasn't necessary to be entertaining.

"It's a big play, and it deals with big themes. It's a really good workout for an actor. A real wrestle," he said.

"It's an entertaining play but it's a drama. And it's not happening anywhere else in Australia."

Equus comes to His Majesty's Theatre on September 12. Tickets are available through BOCS.