Peter Shaffer story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and court composer Antonio Salieri who, overcome with jealousy at hearing the "voice of God" coming from an "obscene child", sets out to destroy his rival. When the show moved to Broadway it won the 1981 Tony Award for Best Play and, like "Equus", ran for more than a thousand performances. After the success of "Amadeus", Shaffer wrote the play "Lettice and Lovage" specifically for Dame Maggie Smith in 1986, for which he was nominated for another Tony Award and Dame Maggie Smith eventually won the Tony Award for best actress after three nominations in
Peter Shaffer Bevin Boy coal miner during World War II, and took a number of jobs including bookstore clerk, and assistant at the New York Public Library, before discovering his dramatic talents. Shaffer's first play, "The Salt Land" (1954), was presented on the BBC. Encouraged by this success, Shaffer continued to write and established his reputation as a playwright in 1958, with the production of "Five Finger Exercise", which opened in London under the direction of John Gielgud and won the Evening Standard Drama Award. When "Five Finger Exercise" moved to New York City in 1959, it was equally well received and