Philanthropist

The Prime Minister and his cabinet have been assassinated and England's most treasured writers are being murdered one by one. Back at the university, a bachelor don anguishes over sex, marriage, anagrams and the meaning of life.

Written as a response to Molière's The Misanthrope and first performed at the Royal Court in 1970, this biting 'bourgeois comedy' examines the empty, insular lives of college intellectuals.

The Philanthropist was revived at the Donmar Warehouse in September 2005.

'Intellectually stimulating, touchingly sympathetic and gloriously, gloriously funny.' Sunday Times

Christopher Hampton was born in the Azores in 1946. He wrote his first play, When Did You Last See My Mother?, at the age of eighteen. Since then, his plays have included The Philanthropist, Savages, Tales from Hollywood, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, White Chameleon, The Talking Cure, Appomattox and A German Life. Appomattox was turned into an opera by Philip Glass in 2014. He has translated plays by Ibsen, Molière, von Horváth, Chekhov and Yasmina Reza (including Art and Life x 3). He has translated seven plays by Florian Zeller, including The Father and The Son, both of which he subsequently co-wrote for the screen with Florian Zeller, winning an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Father in 2021. Musicals include Rebecca, Stephen Ward, Sunset Boulevard and The Third Man. His television work includes adaptations of The History Man, Hôtel du Lac and The Singapore Grip. His screenplays include The Honorary Consul, The Good Father, Dangerous Liaisons, Mary Reilly, Total Eclipse, The Quiet American, Atonement, Cheri, A Dangerous Method, Ali & Nino, Carrington, The Secret Agent and Imagining Argentina, the last three of which he also directed. Molière (1622-73) was born Jean Poquelin, the son of a prosperous upholsterer of Paris. His father was attached to the service of the King and Molière was intended to succeed him. However, in 1643 he changed his surname and joined a family of actors, the Béjarts. Encouraged by their touring success the group returned to Paris and performed in front of Louis XIV and his Court. The success of Molière's farce Le Docteur Amoureux gave the group the opportunity to share a theatre at the Petit- Bourbon with an Italian company, and here Molière's reputation was established. His other plays include L'Ecole des Femmes (1662), Don Juan (1665), Tartuffe (written 1664, produced 1667), Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1671), Les Femmes Savantes (1673) and Le Malade Imaginaire (1673).