Table Of Content.ODB" DBA.ATISTS
Modem Dramatists
Series Editors: Bruee and Adele King
Publisbed titles
Federieo Gareia Lorea, Reed Anderson
Eugene O'Neill, Normand Berlin
Tennessee Williams, Roger Boxill
David Mamet, Dennis Carroll
Arthur Miller, Neil Carson
Mauriee Charney, Joe Orton
New Ameriean Dramatists, 1960-1990, Ruby Cohn
Ameriean Dramatists, 1918-1945, Bemard F. Dukore,
Harold Pinter, Bemard F. Dukore
George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Ganz
Edward Bond, David Hirst
Feminist Theatre, Helene Keyssar
Mime and Post-Modern Mime, Thomas Leabhart
Samuel Beekett, Charles Lyons
Jean Genet, Jeanette L. Savona
Anton Chekhov, Laurence Seneliek
Ameriean Alternative Theatre , Theodore Shank
Sean O'Casey, James Simmons
Athol Fugard, Dennis Walder
Furtber titles in preparation
MODERN DRAMATISTS
PETER
SHAFFER
c.
J. Gianakaris
Professor of English and Theatre
Western Michigan University
Macmillan Education
ISBN 978-0-333-41373-9 ISBN 978-1-349-22046-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-22046-5
© c. J. Gianakaris 1992
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1992
All rights reserved. For information, write:
Scholarly and Reference Division,
St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10010
First published in the United States of America in 1992
ISBN 978-0-312-06052-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gianakaris, C. J., 1934-
Peter Shaffer / C. J. Gianakaris.
p. cm.-(Modem dramatists)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-06052-7
1. Shaffer, Peter, 192&- -Criticism and interpretation.
I. Title 11. Series.
PR6037.H23Z65 1992
822' . 914---dc20 91-31626
CIP
Contents
Editors' Preface vii
1 Peter Shaffer and his Early Career:
The Novels and Broadcast Plays 1
2 Launehing a Theatre Career: Five Finger
Exercise 27
3 Four One-Act Comedies and Shrivings 44
4 Widening the Creative Lens: The Royal Hunt
of the Sun 74
5 Equus and the Mature Shaffer 90
6 Amadeus: Shaffer's Supreme Achievement 107
7 Yonadab: Variations on a Favourite Theme 128
8 Lettice & Lovage: New Comedy for a New Age 149
9 Speculations - Present and Future 166
~~ 1~
Chronology of Premieres 190
Select Bibliography 193
Index 201
v
Editors' Preface
The Modem Dramatists series is an international collec
tion of introductions to major and significant nineteenth
and twentieth-century dramatists, movements and new
forms of drama in Europe, Great Britain. America and
new nations such as Nigeria and Trinidad. Besides new
studies of great and influential dramatists of the past, the
series includes volumes on contemporary authors, recent
trends in the theatre and on many dramatists, such as
writers of farce, who have created theatre 'classics' while
being neglected by literary criticism. The volumes in the
series devoted to individual dramatists include a biogra
phy, a survey of the plays, and detailed analysis of the
most significant plays, along with discussion, where rele
vant, of the political, social, historical and theatrical
context. The authors of the volumes, who are involved
with theatre as playwrights, directors, actors, teachers and
critics, are concerned with the plays as theatre and discuss
such matters as performance, character interpretation and
staging, along with themes and context.
BRUCE KING
ADELE KING
vii
Acknowledgements
The author and publishers wish to thank the following for
permission to use copyright material.
Andre Deutsch Ltd, for the extracts from Amadeus,
Lettice and Lovage and Y onadab by Peter Shaffer.
Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright
holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked
the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary
arrangement at the first opportunity.
1
Peter Shaffer and Ms Early
Career: The .ovels and
Broadcast Plays
Peter ShatTer, the Man
British playwright Peter Shaffer represents a rare breed
becoming even rarer as the twenty-first century
approaches: a writer for the stage who combines verbal
articulateness with exceptional theatrical inventiveness.
Since his first stage play, Five Finger Exercise, appeared in
1958, Shaffer has grown into giant prominence in the
world of theatre. The mainstay of his reputation is aseries
of philosophically probing dramas: The Royal Hunt 0/ the
Sun (1964), Equus (1973), Shrivings (1970, 1974), Ama
deus (1979) and Yonadab (1985). But there also are
dazzling comedies and satires as weIl, such as the one-act
comedies The Private Ear/The Public Eye (1962), Black
Comedy (1965) and White Liars (1967) and the fuIl-Iength
1
Peter Shaffer
Lettice & Lovage (1987). When considered together,
Peter Shaffer's stage works comprise as varied and enter
taining a one-man repertoire as is available today.
His abiding popularity is evidenced by impressive box
office figures, enthusiastic reviews and countless top
awards. The appeal of Shaffer's work is so wide that it has
inspired adaptations in ballet (Equus) and opera (Royal
Hunt). Equus and Amadeus won Tony Awards, and
Amadeus in its film format eamed eight Academy Awards
in 1984, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay (also
written by Shaffer). Movies made of his plays are a sore
point with Shaffer, however. Other film adapta
tions - Five Finger Exercise, The Public Eye and Royal
Hunt - range from competent to dreadful. Notwithstand
ing the extraordinary success of the movie Amadeus,
Shaffer remains sceptical about transferring drama to the
screen, particularly since Sidney Lumet's literalised film
version of Equus.
Shaffer's individual style accrues from a union of
diverse writing strengths. His mastery of language is
impressive, and his mature plays overflow with elegant,
memorable dialogue. Few writers for the theatre today
exhibit a comparable sensitivity with language, though
Shaffer early in his career revealed a proclivity for
overwrought and sentimental verbiage. Shaffer's principal
characteristic, however, is his story-telling ability, which
has found expression in a wide diversity of works, ranging
from weIl-made plays to epic spectacle. These are also
structurally very different from each other, and he con
tinues to explore new directions in theatrical expression.
The serious dramas in particular incorporate inventive,
even experimental, stage tactics such as epic and 'total
theatre' - styles rarely seen in mainstream theatre. Play
goers may recognise elements of Ibsen, Shaw and Osbome
2
