SHAFFER, (LEVIN) PETER

born May 15, 1926, London British playwright of considerable range who moved easily from farce to the portrayal of human anguish. Educated at St. Paul's and Trinity College, Cambridge, Shaffer first worked for a music publisher and then as a book reviewer. His first play, Five-Finger Exercise (1960), was a tautly constructed domestic drama that almost overnight established his reputation as a playwright. He followed it with a double bill, The Private Ear and The Public Eye (1962), before confirming his success with The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1964), a portrayal of the conflict between the Spanish and the Incahope and hopelessness, faithlessness and faith. In 1965 Shaffer's Black Comedy was performed. It is an adroit farce, much of the comedy stemming from the central device of setting his actors in a supposedly pitch-black room that is flooded with light. Equus (1973), dealing with a mentally disturbed stableboy's obsession with horses, was a success with both the public and the critics. It was filmed in 1977. Amadeus, produced at the National Theatre in 1979, is a play about the rivalry between Mozart and his fellow composer Antonio Salieri. After initial critical division it won several dramatic awards for the season.