Equus (play) Equus (play) Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses. Shaffer was inspired to write "Equus" when he heard of a crime involving a 17-year-old who blinded six horses in a small town near Suffolk. He set out to construct a fictional account of what might have caused the incident, without knowing any of the details of the crime. The play's action is something of a detective story, involving the attempts of the child psychiatrist Dr. Martin
Anthony Shaffer (writer) Claudia and Cressida), and Australian actress Diane Cilento. Shaffer met Cilento in 1973, when she appeared in "The Wicker Man". He moved to Australia in 1975 and married Cilento in 1985. Together they built a house ("The Castle") and a theater ("The Karnak Playhouse"). Shaffer was legally domiciled in Australia (where he owned land and a restaurant, paid taxes and voted in elections), although he did maintain a flat in London. In the last years of his life Shaffer had an extramarital relationship with Marie Josette "JoJo" Capece-Minutolo when in London. Cilento did not accompany Shaffer to England but remained