HE found fame wearing wizards’ gowns and schoolboy scarves, but Daniel Radcliffe has chosen to make his debut on the London stage wearing nothing at all.

The 17-year-old actor, who is now a multimillionaire thanks to the Harry Potter films, has been cast as the stable boy in Equus, Peter Shaffer’s controversial drama about a boy’s erotic relationship with horses.

Peter Thompson, a spokesman for the production, said that Radcliffe would appear in the play, scheduled for early 2007 in a West End theatre.

He will play Alan Strang, a psychologically disturbed youth who is interviewed by a psychiatrist after he blinds six horses with a metal spike.

The role requires the actor to simulate sexual pleasure while riding naked on his horse. It is a departure for Radcliffe, whose career has been dominated by his part as JK Rowling’s teenage wizard. He recently finished filming December Boys, in which he plays one of four orphans hoping to be adopted.

Richard Griffiths, who plays Harry Potter’s curmudgeonly uncle in the films, is in talks to take the psychiatrist role. It would be a triumphant return to the London stage for the actor, who won a Tony award for his lead role in The History Boys.

Last week, the pair were filming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth in the series.

Shaffer’s work caused a sensation when it was first staged at the National Theatre in 1973. It transferred to Broadway, where it starred Anthony Hopkins, and ran for 1,200 performances, making it one of the most successful plays in New York history. It was made into a Hollywood film starring Richard Burton in 1977.

The playwright, whose works include Amadeus and The Royal Hunt of the Sun, based the story on a real-life incident in which a boy inexplicably maimed six horses.

It encompasses sexual awakening, Greek mythology and religion. The psychiatrist attempts to explain the boy’s actions, but must confront his own demons in the process.

The play was the subject of controversy recently after John Owen, a drama teacher at Ysdgol Gyfun Rhydfelen in Pontypridd, was accused of sexual abuse after staging it as a school play. He committed suicide the day before he was due to appear in court.

A subsequent report by the National Assembly for Wales called for a ban on Equus in schools.

Radcliffe’s agent did not respond to inquiries last night.

NAKED THEATRICS

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