Actor Quote by Peter Shaffer
“It is very, very difficult for a playwright to write a scene in which a young man has his first deep experience of sex with a girl whom he found immensely attractive, is fully satisfied by this event and gets up and blinds a lot of horses.”
About This Quote
Source Play: Equus, 1973
Highlights the challenge of writing a scene that combines sexual awakening, satisfaction, and absurd violence.
In simple terms: Writing complex, contradictory scenes.
Key Takeaway
Balance realism with absurdity.
Themes
conflict
human desire
absurdity
Mood
provocative
dark
Type
theatrical
literary
When to use this quote
- theatre workshops
- scriptwriting
- performance analysis
Key Concepts
dramatic structure
character psychology
Questions to Reflect On
- How does absurdity serve the narrative?
- When is shock effective?
A Different Perspective
Risk of alienating audience with shock value.
![“I’m not saying we had a playroom, but I’m not shocked by [the sex in the book]. It’s essential to tell the story. I can’t believe films that don’t invoke a sexual side of it. So it works for me.” quote by Jamie Dornan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/136/jamie-dornan-5782_believe_i-m-not-saying-we-had-a-playroom-but-i-m_1205391.jpg)
![“... All who have brought about a state of sex-consciousness are to blame, and it is they who drive me, when I want to stretch my faculties on a book, to seek it in that happy age ... when the writer used both sides of his mind [the male and female sides of his mind] equally. One must turn back to…” quote by Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/107/virginia-woolf-49_androgyny_all-who-have-brought-about-a-state-of-se_2271608.jpg)
