"Yes, this is theatre but not as we know it. Horse Theatre, the company bluntly but honestly call it, and indeed Equilibre 2001, just as previous Equilibre shows revolves around the celebration of that impressive animal -in fact this year takes as its inspiration a poem by Ronald Duncan (little read now but once Britten's librettist) which is read annually at the Horse of the Year Show.

And, inevitably, many of the audience who pack the arena of Carreg Dressage in Abercegir near Machynlleth are horsey types and the ongoing whisperings I caught w~!'e more .to do with equestrian skills and the like rather than dramatic criticism. So is this event a performance, theatre, an eclectic artistic exhibition, a creative collaboration -and is the audience experience similar to that of a theatre production rather than of a dressage show ? Crudely put, is it art ? (And does it matter ?)

Certainly director Jane Lloyd Francis believes so, although a horsewoman fIrSt, she is a theatrical artist second: it is the horse that is centre stage and everything that happens refers to that central position. So the most lyrical of the dance pieces from Ian Morgan, Caroline Sabin, Caroline Harrison and Taylan Halici evoke or emulate the qualities of the horse. The comedy is based on man's stupidity and clumsiness next to the dignity and grace of the horse. Horses in battle hold their ground while soldiers flee and when the men are killed it is the horses that drag off their corpses. Equilibre may set out to explore the relationship between horses and humans but it actually creates more of a celebration of the horse as an idolised idealised perfection, superior to the innately flawed human.

The horse becomes here, as Jane Lloyd Francis admits, an object of worship. It becomes mythic, almost supernatural in its qualities and so the whole show takes on to an extent the quality ofritual: the most stunning image of the evening is when a vibrant red cloak is lowered so its bottom edge just rests on the back of a stunning white horse, creating a vision of a Pegasus with scarlet wings.
We are not used to horses playing horses. Horses in theatre are more familiar through Equus or Epsom Downs or pantomime, where humans play horses. In Equilibre the horses not only play themselves but are the subject and object of the piece. While the musicians play and fool around and the performers act and dance the horses are themselves. The seven horses are performers only in the sense they do what they have been trained to do; horses, as far as I am aware (but I confess ignorance of equine psychology) , are not creative.

Such problematics make for a fascinating night out. In these postmodernist times we should have no difficulty accepting the notion of horse theatre and indeed any search for meaning in Equilibre 2001 can be frustrating, and any old-fashioned ideas that theatre is about helping us understand the world impinge little on the performance.

I suspect that with more time for development and rehearsal, and a stronger creative input, Equilibre could be really exciting -indeed, horse theatre is an accepted innovatory artform in many parts of the world -but while this show is undoubtedly interesting, moving, enjoyable and is an impressive paean to the horse, from a theatrical perspective its failure to have much new to say could disappoint.