Amadeus, often hailed as Shaffer’s most significant dramatic work, delves deeply into the complexities of the human mind. The 1979 play focuses on court composer Antonio Salieri and his envy of fellow composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who is depicted as a crude, egotistical musical prodigy. The play earned the 1980 Antoinette (Tony) Perry Award. In 1984, the film adaptation won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, which Shaffer himself adapted from his original script.

The Royal Hunt of the Sun, a 1964 play, firmly established Shaffer’s reputation as a skilled dramatist. The play—an inventive fusion of ritual, dance, music, and drama—reenacts the sixteenth-century Spanish conquest of the Incan empire. Similar to Equus and Amadeus, this play uses two opposing central characters to create both dramatic tension and a philosophical discussion on key themes.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (Viking, 1962) is set in a mental institution and narrated from the perspective of Chief Bromden, a Native American patient. Kesey’s novel was adapted for the stage and became one of the most successful films ever made. The story centers on the conflict between the rebellious Randal McMurphy and the authoritarian Nurse Ratched, offering a strong critique of the treatment of individuals by psychiatric institutions.

The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe (Fromm, 1993) is a novel recently adapted into a film by Neil Jordan. It explores the mental decline of a boy who has endured a harsh upbringing in a small Irish town. Similar to Alan in Equus, Francie Brady lives in a world largely shaped by his own imagination. His escalating hostility toward society culminates in an act of shocking violence.

The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct by Thomas Szasz, M.D. (revised edition, Harper Row, 1974) is a groundbreaking work in which Szasz, the author of numerous provocative books challenging the core tenets of psychiatry, argues that human behavior is driven by reasons rather than causes. He critiques what he sees as flaws in the medical model of mental illness and questions the role of psychiatrists as benevolent healers.