Shaffer moans about Harry Potter fans

While Sir Peter Shaffer's play Equus is enjoying a critical and highly profitable revival – it recently transferred form the West End to Broadway where it is the talk of the town – the 82-year-old playwright is a little peeved that the focus of attention has been more on the leading actor Daniel Radcliffe’s nudity – Harry Potter fans appear to be making up the lion's share of the audience - than his beautifully crafted drama.
 
"I was irritated that people talked on and on about it," Sir Peter tells the Daily Telegraph. "It was so infantile. In the papers, I was always reading about how Harry Potter was 'waving his other wand'. There is a great deal more going on in the play, you know. I’m not writing porn, for God’s sake."

That said, Sir Peter finds no fault with the acting abilities of young Radcliffe – he was credited by one critic as possessing "the most famous penis in London" - and thinks that he plays the nude scenes to perfection. Adds Shaffer: "Dan’s like a naked little animal, so vulnerable."

Despite his reservations, the prospect of a nude Harry Potter appears to have done wonders for the box office. Ticket sales for the Broadway production, which also stars a slimmed-down Richard Griffiths, already exceed £1.7m. Perhaps Sir Peter should just grin and bear it. ·