Peter Shaffer

Writer Peter Shaffer talks about his plays, his life and the theatre. 'I think the live experience in the theatre is very important when you can see shocks and murmurs going through the house. It has a communal nature. A great play or a great production is a revelation, this is the function of all art, it doesn't have to be solemn - it's a moment, a leap of excitement inside oneself, which can be attached to a moral insight or a laugh, and it comes bolting out like rabbits out of a hedge.'