They look so expectant, and then they look so depressed... that was the other great lesson that The Royal Hunt of the Sun taught me, it was the profundity that masked drama can achieve, that of course, the audience were not seeing masks moving at all.

For writing the screenplay for Equus he was nominated for the 1977 Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar but the award went to Alvin Sargent who wrote the screenplay for Julia. He was educated at St Paul's School London and subsequently he gained a scholarship to Trinity College Cambridge to study history. It was revived by Massachusetts' Berkshire Theatre Festival in the summers of 2005 and 2007 by director Thea Sharrock at London's Gielgud Theatre in February 2007 and on Broadway (in the Sharrock staging) in September 2008.

Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (born 15 May 1926) is an English playwright and screenwriter of numerous award-winning plays several of which have been filmed.