Equus vs Sleuth or, "Which Twin is the Poofter?"

Peter Shaffer died a few days ago at 90.

His twin brother Anthony died 15 years ago at 75.

They were Liverpool's gifts to the literary world. Had they been born in Grimsby, they might've simply been famous murderers.

When I first read the obit, I just thought, "Aw, too bad about ol' Peter." Or Ellio Pete, as some close friends called him. (Or maybe not).

Later on, wondering what he looked like, I came across this:

Hmmmm. Have you noticed that a LOT of gays look GAY?

In Peter's case, there's that wan, fish-lipped effeminacy about the mouth, the passive eyes, the over-combed hair, and the sweater. And he's got his arm around Harry Potter.

Ooof. Then I realized "Equus" had one of the few solo male nude scenes in Broadway history, and was pretty weird and kinky. And "Amadeus," his other major hit, was basically a homoerotic rivalry set in an age when men wore lace.

So I checked Wikipedia and...NO reference to his private life. NONE.

Compare that to the entry for his brother, which mentions he was married three times, and had a mistress who claimed he was going to divorce his wife (at age 75!) to marry HER!

A quick Google of "Peter Shaffer" and GAY, led, of course, to one of many articles spilling the rectal beans:

Having known at least one very radical gay guy, I understand how some in the homo world insist that EVERYONE should be OUT. Shaffer, at a time in life when he was living off huge royalties, not writing much, and could've joined Elton and McKellen and tons of others, stayed closeted. Fine. Even after the death of his boyfriend, he had reasons for not coming OUT.

I think it's a bit odd that Wikipedia didn't mention it, now that he's gone. But the main thing that fascinates me, is he was one of twins.

Did he NOT mention being gay because it may have fucked up the gay world's happy theory that "you're born gay?"

How is it one twin WASN'T born gay?

Another theory is that a dominating mother and weak father often produce a gay child. What happened here?

Scientists and psychologists often study twins, in order to glean insights both medical and emotional. It would've been a pretty interesting interview if Peter had been asked, "Why do you suck cock and your brother doesn't?"

For another twist, let's note that Anthony's two best known plays are pretty freaky, too. "Sleuth" is a sick tale of revenge involving an old cuckold and a young stud, while "The Wicker Man" is a creepy horror story that mostly concerns repressed sexuality and an old guy being tempted by a hot (and in the original film, briefly naked) blonde named Cilla. Oh. No, it was Britt. Britt, who used a body double for the nude scenes, saving her modesty for Peter Sellers.

Well, what's dead is dead.

We won't know, at least from Peter Shaffer, how twins can both be writers, both be famous, but one is gay and the other isn't.

Either way, people will enjoy the works of both the Shaffer twins for decades to come.

Well, everyone except Roger Waters. The Shaffer twins were...JEWS.