Equus Study Guide

After attending Trinity College, Cambridge, Peter Shaffer worked several jobs before becoming successful as a playwright: he was a “Bevin Boy” coal miner during World War II, and later worked as an assistant at the New York Public Library. His first big break as a playwright was Five Finger Exercise, which debuted in 1958 in London. Equus, written in 1973, received the Tony Award for Best Play in 1975. He received the same award for the play Amadeus. Equus and Amadeus both hold the special distinction of having run for over 1000 performances on Broadway. In 1987 Shaffer was named a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, in recognition of his significant achievements in the realm of playwriting.

During the 1970s, Britain enjoyed increasing economic prosperity among the working class. This influx of wealth, combined with the rise of consumer products, contributed to a general rise in what can be described as “consumerism” within society as a whole. The explosion of affordable, mass-produced technology hastened the homogenization of culture, ushering in what Shaffer calls a “worshipless” way of life. By the 1970s, for example, the vast majority of British citizens owned a television set; the power of mass media is manifested by Alan Strang, who sings advertising jingles in his psychotic state. In addition to the influence of consumer culture, Shaffer’s play depicts powerful tension between traditional British values on the wane, and countercultural values that had been gaining traction since the 1960s. The austerity and religiosity of Alan Strang’s parents are pitted against liberal values such as freedom of expression, a rejection of material culture, and the erasure of sexual taboos.

Peter Shaffer’s work is influenced by Bertolt Brecht’s school of theater, which emphasizes the medium’s artificiality: in Brecht’s view, a play should distance itself from its audience so that viewers may reflect critically on what is happening onstage. Ancient Greek drama is another powerful presence in the play, as evidenced by Shaffer’s use of the Greek chorus. There are also important similarities between Equus and The Bacchae by Euripedes. The Bacchae deals with the central conflict of human nature—the struggle between the rational, civilized side of man and the irrational, sensual side.