Books by Peter Shaffer

When a deranged boy, Alan Strang, blinds six horses with a metal spike he is sentenced to psychiatric treatment. Dr Dysart is the man given the task of uncovering what happened the night Strang committed his crime, but in doing so will open up his own wounds. This work uses an act of violence to explore faith and insanity.

Dr. Martin Dysart, a psychiatrist, is confronted with Alan Strang, a boy who has blinded six horses in a violent fit of passion. This very passion is as foreign to Dysart as the act itself. To the boy''s parents it is a hideous mystery; Alan has always adored horses. To Dysart it is a psychological puzzle that leads both doctor and patient to a complex and disturbingly dramatic confrontation.

This provocative work weaves a confrontation between mediocrity and genius into a tale of breathtaking dramatic power. In the court of the Austrian Emperor Josef, Antonio Salieri is the established composer. Enter the greatest musical genius of all time: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Salieri has given himself to God so that he might realize his sole ambition to be a great composer. Mozart is a foul-mouthed, graceless oaf who has that which is beyond Salieri''s envious grasp: Genius.

When Edward Damson, English playwright, dies in his Aegean home, his son Philip, whom he never acknowledged, begs permission from his stepmother to write his biography. She warns that he will find it painful. Edward's life is mirrored in the Greek myth of Athena and Perseus who slays the Gorgon.

Bob is a born loser: plain and shy he is no match for Ted whose facile charm impresses "the birds". Bob thinks he has found a different kind of girl and invites her to dinner. Ted bustles about, further reducing Bob's store of confidence. Doreen arrives. Her quiet poise is revealed as foolishness and she finds classical music as tedious as Bob's conversation.1 woman, 2 men

"A revised version presented at the Shaw Theatre, 1976."

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a genius, the most brilliant musician the world will ever see. But the court of 18th-century Vienna doesn't recognize his talents - only Antonio Salieri, the Court Composer, does, and he is tortured by what he hears. Seething with rage at the genius of this buffoon and aware of his own mediocrity, Salieri declares war.

In the humid air of 16th-century Peru, Atahuallpa, the Sun-God King, meets Pizarro the Conquistador, representative of the Spanish Empire at its insatiable. While the Inca King is convinced of his own immortality, the Spaniard is cynical and greedy, leading to a collision of power and authority. Soon both men are locked in a struggle for survival.

Teenager Alan, fought over by a religious mother and an atheist father, finds release in horses, until he is driven to blind them with a spike. Why?

Charles and Belinda are an ill-assorted couple yet they were once in love. Insanely jealous, Charles engages a private eye, Julian, to follow her round London. Julian can only report that she is attached to someone. When the three meet it transpires that Belinda has fallen for Julian. Deciding to mend a marriage, rather than break it, Julian banishes Belinda to her wanderings but this time to be followed by Charles.