Peter Shaffer is one of the most successful playwrights in Modern British Drama. In 1973 he wrote Equus, which opened at the National Theatre and quickly attracted popular acclaim. Within a year it was moved to Broadway where it ran for over a thousand performances, winning the Tony Award and the Drama Critics Award for best play.

In 1974 Sir Anthony Hopkins' acting career was launched in the USA making his debut in Equus playing Dr. Martin Dysart winning the New York Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics' Circle Award for best actor. He later mounted another production of the play in Los Angeles, where he received the Los Angeles Drama Critics' Award.

In 1977 Equus was made into a film receiving three Oscar nominations including Best Actor for Richard Burton, Best Supporting Actor, Peter Firth and Best Screenplay based on material from another medium for Peter Shaffer.

Although Equus did not succeed with any of the nominations when you consider the competition that year there is little wonder. Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Saturday Night Fever, Annie Hall, The Spy Who Loved Me, Airport, The Goodbye Girl, all grabbing the headlines and Oscars that year.

Today Peter Shaffer’s work is recognised as a highly valuable part of British theatre heritage with his work being part of curricular studies in literature. Shaffer creates moments of pure theatre in his writing. He is one of the great living playwrights, a playwright in the truest sense of the word; a master craftsman.