The two one-act plays premiered on 10 May 1962 at the Globe Theatre, London.
Duplicated typescript of 'The Public Eye' and 'Black Comedy.' Many pages carry a revision date from March to April 1984, though a note on the front carries the date 4 July 1984.
Original cuttings and photomechanical copies of reviews.
Includes a letter from James H. Hansen of the Ahmanson Theatre dated 17 April 1984 enclosing reviews of 'Light Comedies.'
Duplicated screenplay lacking eight pages: 32, 78-79, 84, 86, 105, 122-123.
In paper covers of Universal City Studios with a statement of property by the Studios on the title page. [Script?] no. 00697.
Duplicated typescript with a stamp of Jun 18 1965 at bottom of title page.
Duplicated typescript with a label on the front page for Christopher Mann Ltd, 140 Park Lane, London. The story concerns a terrible composer named Dr Cusius and the lengths to which he will go to have his work performed.
"The Times" - 'Position of rival forces in Spain' (map)
"Daily Worker" - 'International Brigade arrive in Spain'
"Daily Worker "- 'Heroic fighting by Britons in Spain'
"Daily Worker"- 'Spain's farewell to men who kept faith'
Bound duplicated typescript with emendations in Shaffer's hand and another unidentified hand, with title 'The Musical Offering, A Play in One Act by Peter Shaffer,' which appears to have been an early title for 'The Private Ear.' Accompanied by loose typescript rewrite pages for the American productions of both 'The Private Ear' and 'The Public Eye.' , a handbill for Globe Theatre production of 'The Private Ear' and 'The Public Eye,' and a brown envelope which stored SHAF B3/2/1-3.
21 ff. of material relating to the production at the Globe Theatre, comprising ff. 30-50 of the scrapbook. There are six publicity photographs taken on the street outside the theatre, three of PS taken by Laon Maybanke, and three of Victor Spinetti taken and signed by Paul [J?] Winham. The printed material consists of a handbill and 27 cuttings, most of them theatre reviews from a variety of U.K. newspapers and magazines including a review by Harold Hobson, Bernard Levin's "I'm glad I've caught up" in the 'Daily Mail' of 8 Jan. 1963, and a feature on Peter as one of "[David] Kossoff's Friends" with a portrait sketch and short biography. There are two reviews from outside the U.K.: "Du sillage de Shakespeare à une réussite en un acte" from the 'Tribune de Genève' of 5 July 1962 and Richard Watts Jr.'s "Detective out of Lewis Carroll" in the 'New York Post' of July 1962.
Typescript draft with emendations in Shaffer's hand with title 'The Musical Offering, A Play in One Act by Peter Shaffer,' which appears to have been an early title for 'The Private Ear.'
Typescript, with emendations in Shaffer's hand throughout, of an early draft of the play. With a title sheet [written later?] in Shaffer's hand, "The Public Eye, A Play in One Act by Peter Shaffer."
A small group of typescript pages with emendations in Shaffer's hand.
With note signed by Shaffer on cover, "2nd Version, typed up & finished Jan 27th 1961." Typescript draft, with emendations in Shaffer's hand. The draft contains multiple versions of scenes, and does not appear to be a final draft.
Typescript draft with emendations in Shaffer's hand, lacking the first few pages of Act I. The last page includes five lines of shorthand at the bottom.
Via Dve Macelli 31, Roma - Would like to produce 'Private Ear' and 'Black Comedy' at his Italian Group (Theatre) the following year.
Hamish Hamilton Ltd. - Very much enjoyed the play, would like to know when they may expect a script.
Entries in index: 'De Morgan - correspondence with - p. 1'; 'Differences of Squares - that compose the odd nos. 120'; Differences of Roots. 230'; 'Gradation - Series. 50'; 'Paper for Royal Society - p. 562'; 'Roots - changing roots by diminishing them till a+b-c-d+1. 300'; 'on the differences a Sum of Roots of 1, 3, 7, 13, 21 &c. 130'; 'Roots may always = 1. 320'; 'Properties of 3 Squares. 348. 'These Properties applied to the series 1 3 7 13 21 &c. 360'; 'Series - oon the Series 1, 3, 13 & c... 84'.
The first version of the title of the 'Paper for Royal Society', as given on p. 562, is 'On a method of proving by means of indices a limit within which any No. may be formed of the terms of certain series, including a proof of Fermat's Theorems of the Polygonal numbers'.
Sem título'Five Finger Exercise' opened on 16 July 1958 at the Comedy Theatre, London.
11 ff. of cuttings of reviews of 'Black Comedy', with ff. 73-80 relating to the production at the Chichester Festival Theatre in July 1965 and ff. 81-83 relating to the production at the Old Vic in March 1966. Reviewers include Harold Hobson, Herbert Kretzmer, Milton Shulman, [Philip] Hope-Wallace and B. A. Young.
9 ff. of material relating to the production at the Chichester Festival Theatre, comprising ff. 63-72 of the scrapbook. There are 15 cuttings, most of them theatre reviews, including Bernard Levin's "The greatest play of our generation" from the 'Daily Mail' of 8 July 1964 and its follow-up "I was right -- It is the best new play" written after a second visit, and the third "Thank you Mr S for the greatest play in my lifetime" written on the play's transfer to London; other critics include Bamber Gascoigne, J. W. Lambert, and Harold Hobson.
29 ff. of cuttings relating to 'Five Finger Exercise', with ff. 1-13 relating to the London production at the Comedy Theatre, and ff. 14-29 relating to the New York production at the Music Box Theatre.
Material relating to the London production includes two handbills, a programme and 19 cuttings of theatre reviews, including "Changing Fashions in the English Theatre" by John Bowen in 'The Listener', "Eating People is Wrong" by Alan Brien in 'The Spectator', "An Author and Actor" by Harold Hobson in 'The Sunday Times' (July 27 1958), and "Peter Shaffer Calls for Magic and Mystery" by R. B. Marriott in 'The Stage' (July 13, 1958); other cuttings are from the 'Cambridge Daily News', 'Daily Express', 'Daily Mail', 'Daily Telegraph', 'Evening News', 'Financial Times', 'The Illustrated London News', 'New Statesman', 'News of the World', 'The Stage', 'The Star', 'The Times', and 'The Times Literary Supplement'.
Material relating to the New York production includes the cover of 'Playbill' and 11 cuttings of theatre reviews and advertisements for the New York production. The cuttings are taken from 'Life Magazine', 'The New Yorker', and other unidentified newspapers, and include two articles by Brooks Atkinson in 'The New York Times', and Richard Watts Jr.'s 'A Powerful New Play from England' (in an unidentfied newspaper), as well as two articles by Peter Shaffer: "labels aren't for playwrights", in 'Theatre Arts', Feb. 1960, and "The Cannibal Theatre" in the 'Atlantic Monthly'.
5 ff. of material relating to the production at the Wyndham's Theatre in December 1963, comprising ff. 57-61 of the scrapbook, with a programme and six cuttings of theatre reviews, including one by Bamber Gascoigne entitled "Oh what a lovely ball" from 'The Observer'; other cuttings of reviews are taken from 'The Daily Mail', 'The Sunday Telegraph', 'The Sunday Citizen', 'The Sunday Times', and 'The Times'.
Hopes to build the wonderful press to a big success.