Peter Shaffer

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Peter Shaffer

Peter Shaffer , 1926-, English playwright, b. Liverpool, grad. Cambridge, 1950. Before turning to the stage he wrote for radio and television and was the author of several mystery novels. He has written both historical and contemporary dramas, work ranging from the tautly dramatic to the farcically comic. His first successful play, Five Finger Exercise (1958), is a study of the tensions in an upper-middle-class family. The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1964), is an epic of Pizarro's destruction of the Incan civilization. Equus (1973) is a dialogue between a psychoanalyst and a deranged, horse-obsessed youth; the Tony-winning Amadeus (1979) relates the rivalry between the composers Mozart and Salieri. Shaffer's other plays include The Private Ear and The Public Eye (1962), Black Comedy (1965), Lettice and Lovage (1987), and The Gift of the Gorgon (1993). Several of his plays have been made into films.

Bibliography: See G. A. Plunka, Peter Shaffer: Roles, Rites and Rituals in the Theater (1988); C. J. Gianakaras, ed., Peter Shaffer: A Casebook (1991); M. K. MacMurraugh-Kavanagh, Peter Shaffer: Theater and Drama (1998).

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Shaffer, Peter

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Â© World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Shaffer, Peter (1926– ) English dramatist. Following the success of Five Finger Exercise (1960), he wrote The Private Ear and The Public Eye (1962). Schaffer's plays Equus (1973) and Amadeus (1979) were both made into films.

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	Sánchez Navarro tradujo, produce y dirige 'Equus', la obra maestra de Peter Shaffer, a reponerse con Héctor Bonilla en el Teatro México. (Rafael Sánchez Navarro, actor y productor mexicano)(TT: Sánchez Navarro translated, produces, and directs 'Equus', the master work by Peter Shaffer, in the reprise with Héctor Bonilla at Theater Mexico) (TA: Rafael Sánchez Navarro, Mexican actor and producer) Magazine article from: Proceso; 2/9/1997
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