Context

Question 1

Who wrote the play?

Answer 1

Peter Shaffer

Question 2

When was it first performed?

Answer 2

1979

Question 3

How long did it take to write?

Answer 3

3 years

Question 4

Conventions of Peter Shaffer:

Answer 4

• His plays are theatrical, lavish and involve large casts.
• Music and sound are integral aspects of his major works.
• Chorus is used extensively - in the true Classical Greek sense.
• Isolationism devices (Brook = Mr. So Alone).
• Faith, worship and divinity are tied into Amadeus.

Question 5

What aspects of Greek theatre does Shaffer purloin?

Answer 5

• Chorus
• Masks
• Tragedy

Question 6

The plot:

Answer 6

• The demented recollections of Salieri at the end of his life, in 1823.
• He in no longer a famous composer but a forgotten man made bitter and crazy by envy.
• Mozart performs for Salzburg archbishop in 1781.
• Salieri conspires against Mozart and tries to block Mozart’s court advancement.