Peter Shaffer

Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (; 15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He wrote numerous award-winning plays, of which several were adapted into films.

Early life

Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in Liverpool, the son of Reka (née Fredman) and estate agent Jack Shaffer. He grew up in London and was the identical twin brother of fellow playwright Anthony Shaffer.

He was educated at the Hall School, Hampstead, and St Paul's School, London, and subsequently he gained a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, to study history. Shaffer was a Bevin Boy coal miner during World War II, and took a number of jobs including bookstore clerk, and assistant at the New York Public Library, before discovering his dramatic talents.

Theatrical career

Shaffer's first play, ''The Salt Land'' (1955), was presented on ITV on 8 November 1955. Encouraged by this success, Shaffer continued to write and established his reputation as a playwright in 1958, with the production of '' Five Finger Exercise'', which opened in London under the direction of John Gielgud and won the Evening Standard Drama Award. When ''Five Finger Exercise'' moved to New York City in 1959, it was equally well received and landed Shaffer the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play.

Shaffer's next piece was a double bill, ''The Private Ear/The Public Eye'', two plays each containing three characters and concerning aspects of love. They were presented in May 1962 at the Globe Theatre, and both starred Maggie Smith and Kenneth Williams. Smith won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Leading Actress at the age of 27.

The National Theatre was established in 1963, and virtually all of Shaffer's subsequent work was done in its service. His canon contains a unique mix of philosophical dramas and satirical comedies. ''The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' (1964) presents the conquest and killing of the Inca ruler Atahuallpa by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro in Peru, while ''Black Comedy'' (1965) takes a humorous look at the antics of a group of characters feeling their way around a pitch-black room – although the stage is actually flooded with light.

'' Equus'' (1973) won Shaffer the 1975 Tony Award for Best Play as well as the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. A journey into the mind of a seventeen-year-old stableboy who had plunged a spike into the eyes of six horses, ''Equus'' ran for over 1,000 performances on Broadway. It was revived by Massachusetts' Berkshire Theatre Festival in the summers of 2005 and 2007, by director Thea Sharrock at London's Gielgud Theatre in February 2007, and on Broadway (in the Sharrock staging) in September 2008. The latter production, which ran in New York until February 2009, required the stableboy to appear naked; its star, Daniel Radcliffe, was still associated with the ''Harry Potter'' films intended for general audiences, and this led to mild controversy.

Shaffer followed this success with ''Amadeus'' (1979) which won the Evening Standard Drama Award and the Theatre Critics' Award for the London production. This tells the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and court composer Antonio Salieri who, overcome with jealousy at hearing the "voice of God" coming from an "obscene child", sets out to destroy his rival. When the show moved to Broadway it won the 1981 Tony Award for Best Play and, like ''Equus'', ran for more than a thousand performances.

After the success of ''Amadeus'', Shaffer wrote the play ''Lettice and Lovage'' specifically for Dame Maggie Smith in 1986, for which he was nominated for another Tony Award and for which Smith eventually won the Tony Award for best actress after three nominations in 1990. ''Lettice and Lovage'' also enabled Margaret Tyzack to win the award for best featured actress, and the production was nominated for best direction of a play, at the 1990 Tony Awards.

Screen adaptations

Several of Shaffer's plays have been adapted to film, including '' Five Finger Exercise'' (1962), ''The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' (1969), ''The Public Eye'' (1962), from which he adapted the 1972 film '' Follow Me!'' (1972), '' Equus'' (1977), and ''Amadeus'' (1984), which won eight Academy Awards including Best Picture.
For writing the screenplay for ''Equus'', Schaffer was nominated for the 1977 Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, but the award went to Alvin Sargent, who wrote the screenplay for ''Julia''. For writing the screenplay for ''Amadeus'', Shaffer received both the 1984 Best Screenplay Golden Globe and the 1984 Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar.

Personal life and death

Shaffer was gay. His partner, New York-based voice teacher Robert Leonard, died in 1990 at the age of 49. Shaffer lived in Manhattan from the 1970s onward.

While on a trip to Ireland shortly after his 90th birthday, Shaffer died on 6 June 2016 at a hospice facility in Curraheen, County Cork. Leonard and Shaffer are buried together in the east side of Highgate Cemetery.

Awards

Shaffer received the William Inge Award for Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre in 1992. Two years later he was appointed Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University.

In 1993, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Letters) by the University of Bath.

Shaffer's play, ''Five Finger Exercise'' won the Evening Standard Drama Award when it premiered in London and then won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play when it moved to New York City.

Shaffer's play, ''Equus'' won the Tony Award for Best Play and the New York Drama Critics' Circle that year as well. His screenplay adaptation of the play was nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar in 1978.

Shaffer's play ''Amadeus'' won the Evening Standard Drama Award and the Theatre Critics' Award for its initial London production. Upon moving to Broadway, ''Amadeus'' won the 1981 Tony Award for Best Play. His screenplay adaptation of the play won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar as well as the Golden Globe Best Screenplay in 1984.

Shaffer's play ''Lettice and Lovage'' was nominated for another Tony Award, and for her performance in it, Dame Maggie Smith won the Tony Award for best actress after three nominations in 1990. ''Lettice and Lovage'' also won best supporting actress for Margaret Tyzack and was nominated for best direction of a play in 1990 Tony Awards.

Honours

Shaffer was appointed a CBE in 1987 and named Knight Bachelor in the 2001 New Year's Honours. In 2007, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Selected works

*''The Salt Land'' (Television, 1955)
*''Balance of Terror'' (Television, 1957)
*''The Prodigal Father'' (Radio, 1957)
*'' Five Finger Exercise'' (1958)
*''The Private Ear'' (1962)
*''The Public Eye'' (1962)
*''The Establishment'' (1963)
*''The Merry Roosters' Panto'' (1963)
*''The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' (1964 but completed by 1958), a theatre piece on Atahualpa, the last emperor of the Tahuantinsuyu.
*''Black Comedy'' (1965)
*''The White Liars'' (1967)
*''The Battle of Shrivings'' (1970)
*'' Equus'' (1973)
*''Amadeus'' (1979)
*''Black Mischief'' (1983)
*''Yonadab'' (1985)
*''Lettice and Lovage'' (1987)
*''Whom Do I Have the Honour of Addressing?'' (1990)
*''The Gift of the Gorgon''

Detective novels co-written as Peter Antony

Shaffer co-wrote three detective novels with his brother Anthony Shaffer under the pseudonym ''Peter Antony''.
*''The Woman in the Wardrobe'' (1951)
*'' How Doth the Little Crocodile?'' (1952)
*'' Withered Murder'' (1955)

References

External links

Obituary
in ''The Guardian'' (6 June 2016)
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Transcript and clips of an interview by Mike Wood for the William Inge Center for the Arts.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaffer, Peter
1926 births
2016 deaths
20th-century English male writers
21st-century English male writers
20th-century pseudonymous writers
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners
Best Screenplay Golden Globe winners
Bevin Boys
British gay writers
British identical twins
Burials at Highgate Cemetery
English Jews
English dramatists and playwrights
English expatriates in the United States
English male dramatists and playwrights
English male screenwriters
English screenwriters
Fellows of St Catherine's College, Oxford
Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
Jewish dramatists and playwrights
Knights Bachelor
LGBT Jews
New York Drama Critics' Circle Award winners
People educated at St Paul's School, London
People educated at The Hall School, Hampstead
Tony Award winners
English twins
Writers from Liverpool
Writers from London