A Playwright Looks at Mozart: Peter Shaffer's Amadeus

Authors

C. J. Gianakaris, Western Michigan University

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, the first paragraph of the essay follows:

British writer Peter Shaffer has earned an elevated position among today's living dramatists. His Five Finger Exercise (1958), Royal Hunt of the Sun (1964), Black Comedy (0965), and Equus (1973) have educed uniformly popular and critical acclaim. It can be argued that none of Shaffer's plays revolutionized theater techniques in radical ways, as did the early works of Beckett, Ionesco, or Shaffer's fellow countrymen Pinter and Edward Bond. Shaffer's method is more evolutionary than revolutionary. But his works taken together define a fresh and virile version of total theater that effectively utilizes striking visual and aural qualities.

Recommended Citation

Gianakaris, C. J. (1981) "A Playwright Looks at Mozart: Peter Shaffer's Amadeus," Comparative Drama: Vol. 15: Iss. 1, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/compdr/vol15/iss1/3