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Peter Shaffer Research
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This document gives facts on the writer of Equus, Peter Shaffer, to show the examiner a wide range of knowledge, possibly gaining extra marks.
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Evie Jones Research on Peter ShafferPeter Shaffer
- Born on 15th May 1926 in Liverpool
- Died on 6th June 2016 in Cork, Ireland
- An English playwright and screenwriter
- Was Jewish
- Had an identical twin brother, the playwright, Antony Shaffer
- He got a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge and graduated in 1950
- Initially worked for the New York public Library from 1951-1954
- He also was a “Bevin Boy” coal miner from 1944-1947
- He has his first radio play in 1951, The Prodical Father was presented on BBC
- Several of the plays he wrote were adapted into films
- Most notable works- Black Comedy, Eqqus, Amadeus
- Wrote 19 plays
- Began writing screen plays in 1963 and collaborated with Peter Brook on Lord of the
Flies
- His first play was called The Salt Land, which he wrote in 1955
- His first play was presented on ITV on 8th November 1955
- He established his reputation as a playwright in 1958 with the production of Five
Finger Exercise
- Five finger exercise was opened in London and won the Evening Standard Drama
award
- This play was also moved to New York City in 1959 and was also well received
- His ‘canon’ contains a mix of “philosophical dramas” and “satirical comedy’s”
(Wikipedia,2020)
- His play Eqqus (1973) won the Tony Award for Best Play
- Eqqus ran for over 1,000 performances on Broadway
- Eqqus was revived in 2005,2007 by Massachusetts Berkshire theatre festival and on
Broadway in 2008
- His play Amadeus (1979) won the Evening Standard Drama Award and the Theatre
Critics’ award for the London production
- Amadeus moved to Broadway in 1981 and also ran for over 1,000 performances
- Amadeus had also made it to film with the screenplay by Shaffer and it won an Oscar
for the best film in 1984 this was also well received
- His play Lettice and Lovage (1986) was nominated for a Tony Award this show also
ran for three years in London
- Some examples of the plays that were adapted to films- Five finger Exercise (1962),
Eqqus in 1977 and Amadeus in 1984 which one eight Academy Awards
- He was gay but didn’t write “explicitly”about it (Wikipedia,2020)
- His partners name was Robert Leonard and he was a New York based voice teacher
- Leonard died in 1990 aged 49
- Shaffer was appointed a CBE in 1987
- He was knighted in 2001
- Was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007
- He co wrote detective stories with his brother under the name ‘Peter Antony’. The
names of these being How Doth the Little Crocodile in 1952 and Withered Murder in
1955
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