Evil in Contemporary Drama and Religious Peter Shaffer Shaffer
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Notas 1. Peter Sbaffer and bis Early Career: Tbe Novels and Broadcast Plays 1. Larry D. Bouchard, Tragic Method and Tragic Theology: Evil in Contemporary Drama and Religious Thought (University Park, Pa, and London: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1989) p. 178. 2. Simon Trussler, General Editor's Introduction to File on Shaffer, compiled by Virginia Cooke and Malcolm Page (London and New York: Methuen, 1987) p. 6. There are few large-scale studies of the making of Peter Shaffer's art. Among the better commentaries (aside from Cooke and Page's notes) are Dennis A. Klein, Peter Shaffer (Boston, Mass.: Twayne, 1979); Gene A. Plunka, Peter Shaffer: Roles, Rites, and Rituals in the Theatre (Cran bury, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1988); and John Russell Taylor, Peter Shaffer, Writers and their Work no. 244 (Harlow, Essex: Longman, 1974). 176 Notes 3. See Michael Rinden, 'When Playwrights Talk to God: Peter Shaffer and the Legaey of O'Neill', Compara tive Drama, XVI, no. 1 (Spring 1982) 49-63. 4. I am very grateful to Peter Shaffer for my interviews with hirn over the past ten years, and have also benefited from the following interviews published by others: Tom Buekley, '''Write Me", Said the Play to Peter Shaffer', New York Times Magazine, 13 Apr 1975, p. 20ff; Brian ConneIl, 'The Two Sides ofTheatre 's Agonized Perfeetion ist', The Times, 28 Apr 1980, 7; Roland Gelatt, 'Mostly Amadeus', Horizon, Sept 1984, pp. 49-52; Mel Gussow, 'Shaffer Details a Mind's Journey in Equus', New York Times, 24 Oet 1974, p. 50; and the interviews reported in Plunka, Peter Shaffer. 5. The Woman in the Wardrobe. A Light-hearted Detect ive Story was first published in London in 1951 by Evans Brothers; no American edition has been issued. Although 'Peter Antony' is Iisted as author, Shaffer wrote this novel alone. How Doth the Little Crocodile? A Mr Verity Detective Story (London: Evans Brothers, 1952) was also published under the name of 'Peter Antony', but this time Peter and Anthony Shaffer were joint authors. The edi tion published in the United States in 1957 dropped the pseudonym and appeared under the authors' joint names. Withered Murder (London: Maemillan, 1955) appeared in an American edition in 1956. Both editions give 'A. and P. Shaffer' as authors. 6. The deteetive here is named 'Fathom', and the Shaffers again indulge in wordplay, since the name indi eates a probing quality. It is puzzling that the name Verity was dropped, as Fathom is essentially the same eharaeter, fat and with a passion for objets d' arts. 7. Anthony Shaffer's most suecessful work for the stage is the deteetive thriller Sleuth (1970), which won a Tony 177 Peter Shaffer Award and ran for over 1200 performances on Broadway. His drama Murderer (1975) proved less popular, but his writing - including some film scripts - has remained centred on mystery thrillers. He says he also continues to write stage dramas. 8. Aside from The Public Eye, Shaffer's comedies do not appear to follow the same structure. Only White Liars vaguely approximates the pattern of mystery fietion, because of its ironie, conflicting versions of the true facts involved. 9. See Martin Esslin, 'Drama and the Media in Britain', Modern Drama, XXVIII, no. 1 (Mar 1985) 99; and lan Rodger , Radio Drama (London: Macmillan, 1982). 10. From Connell's interview in The Times, 28 Apr 1980, p.7. 11. Shaffer writes, '[In] The Salt Land I attempted to construct a tragedy along loosely classieallines, not for the sake of experiment . but because the subject of Israel and immigration is truly heroic, and deserves classieal treatment' - 'Labels Aren't for Playwrights', Theatre Arts, XLIV (Feb 1960) 20-1. 12. Additional details concerning The Merry Roosters Panto are available in Plunka, Peter Shaffer, p. 69; and in Cooke and Page, File on Shaffer, pp. 21-2. 13. Whom Do I have the Honour of Addressing? is scheduled for publication by Andre Deutsch, London. In the meantime, I am indebted to Peter Shaffer for provid ing a manuscript of the play. 2. Launehing a Theatre Career: 'Five Finger Exercise' 1. Peter Shaffer, Preface to The Collected Plays (New York: Harmony Books, 1982) p. viii. All quotations from 178 Notes the Preface and Five Finger Exercise are taken from this edition. Page references are given in parentheses follow ing quotations. 2. Bouchard, Tragic Method and Tragic Theology, p. 179. 3. Quoted in Plunka, Peter Shaffer, p. 73. Other details concerning Shaffer's upbringing are available in Klein, Peter Shaffer. 4. Movie-makers saw possibilities in Shaffer's psycho logical drama, and a film adaptation was made in 1962 featuring Rosalind RusselI, Maximilian Schell and Jack Hawkins. For convenience of filming, the scene was transferred from an English cottage in Suffolk to a striking modern horne on the Pacific coastline near Carmel, California. Also, a more hopcful ending was added, show ing Walter receiving mental ca re after being saved from suicide. 3. Four One-Act Comedies and 'Shrivings' 1. Shaffer's Preface to The Collected Plays (especially pp. ix-xiii) provides first-hand details regarding the writ ing of the one-acters. All quotations from the Preface, the one-act comedies and Shrivings are taken from this edi tion. Page references are given in parentheses after quota tions. 2. Interestingly, The Times (11 May 1962) initially carried lukewarm reviews of both one-acters. Later, when reviewing different stagings with different casts, the anon ymous Times critic admitted that the changes had substantially improved The Private Ear (10 Sep 1963). 3. In his review for the Nation (9 Nov 1963) of the first one-acters, Harold Clurman notes excessive cleverness, 179 Peter Shaffer yet also acknowledges Shaffer's growing dramatic versatil ity. 4. Gene Plunka comments on Shaffer's use of music in Peler Shaffer. lronically, the 1988 Tony Award for best play was given to another small-scale play, M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang, which also is built around Puccini's opera. 5. A movie of The Public Eye was made in 1972, directed by British director Carol Reed. 6. In the Preface to the Collected Plays, Shaffer admits that the title Black Comedy seems to mislead American audiences, for whom 'black' elicits distinct racial and political associations." He writes, 'Some people thought that I had written a propaganda play about blacks. I suppose I should have called it Light Comedy, an equally good title, and one far more appropriate for New York' (p. xiii). He has also mentioned 'Dark Comedy' as a possible alternative title. 4. Widening the Creative Lens: 'The Royal Hunt of the Sun' 1. All quotations from the Preface and The Royal Hunt o[ the Sun are taken from The Collected Plays; the page references following quotations relate to this edition. 2. One problem noted by some American reviewers was Shaffer's tendency to overwrite - a criticism that dogs his later plays as weIl. 3. Shaffer's long battle against literalism has erupted most openly when films have been made of his plays. A British film of Royal Hunt was made in 1969, featuring Christopher Plummer as Atahuallpa and Robert Shaw as Pizarro. The general opinion is that it was an expensive 180 Notes flop. During my interviews with Shaffer in 1980, he denied any connection with the film, adding, 'It taught me a lesson in a way; I mean, I shall never not do my own films again. It was terrible.' But, even when he has been directly involved in plans to film his plays, difficulties have not always been totally avoided. 4. During those same interviews in 1980, Shaffer said he was baffled that some critics decried the 'theatricality' of his plays. Insisting that theatrical devices specifically belong in the theatre, he pointed out that critics never attack painters for being 'painterly' in their work. 5. Interestingly, old rumours that much of Atahuallpa's ransom had never been shipped to Spain but had been hidden away in South American mountain caves resur faced in the late 1980s. Expeditions to locate the gold have been mounted. The 'hunt' continues. 6. Observers of the play frequently point out res emblances between it and Antonin Artaud's projected but never-completed La Conquete de Mexique. Artaud's appears to have been a far more ambitious treatment of the same historical source. 7. There are traces here of a modern 'primitive' or 'noble savage', reappearing also in Equus and Amadeus. 8. John Russell Taylor, 'Shaffer and the Incas', Plays and Players, Apr 1964, pp. 12-13. A helpful account of the play's workings is found in James Stacy's 'The Sun and the Horse: Peter Shaffer's Search for Worship', Educa tional Theatre Journal, 28 (Oct 1976) 325-35. 9. Taylor, 'Shaffer and the Incas'. 10. Robert Brustein exemplifies the divided response of some critics. Bluntly calling the debate in Royal Hunt 'Shaffer's long-winded pseudo-Lawrentian mulings', he none the less applauded the play's theatricality as a 'vibrant visual display' which 'drew on all the possibilities 181 Peter Shaffer of the stage and all the magnificence of an exotic Peruvian culture' - The Third Theatre (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969) pp. 112-13. 11. Gene Plunka mentions the round-table session on Artaud in his book (Peter Shaffer, p. 44) and provides comments regarding possible connections between Royal Hunt and Artaud's work on the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico. See Plunka, Peter Shaffer; and Klein, Peter Shaffer. 12. Review of Royal Hunt by B. A. Young in the Financial Times, 8 July 1964. 5. 'Equus' and the Mature ShatTer 1.