About the Play:

The Philanthropist was one of Royal National Theatre of Britain's top 100 plays of the 20th century.

The Philanthropist is a full-length comedy by Christopher Hampton. As the world falls to bits around them, the academics of an English university and a successful novelist meet up at a lecturer's dinner party. Over the course of the evening, they both quarrel and flirt with each other. Then comes the morning after the night before.

The Philanthropist is about a gentle academic who is so anxious to be liked that he manages to alienate virtually everyone about him. The title character is Philip, a professor of philology (the study of language and comparative linguistics) who tries to please everyone at all times because he believes that will bring out the best in people. The play begins in his parlour where two men are listening to a dramatic reading of an earnest young playwright's latest work. Donald, an English professor, is kind in his remarks. Philip, however, asserts that he found the play incredible, especially at the point where the protagonist commits suicide. Arguing for credibility, John, the playwright reenacts the scene again, this time with a live pistol, and accidentally blows his brains out. Then Philip hosts a disastrous dinner party, joined by his stylish and perceptive fiancée Celia, his worldlier best friend Donald, the quiet Elizabeth, the promiscuous Araminta, and the wealthy and egomaniacal novelist Braham, who is contemptuous of all work excepting his own. They share anecdotes, flirt, butt heads and engage in witty wordplay, until it is time for them all to pair off and head home. Meanwhile, in the outside world, the evening sets off a chain of events which puncture the rarefied and cerebral world they inhabit. When they all awake the next morning the results are life-altering. The Prime Minister and his cabinet have been assassinated, and England's most treasured writers are being murdered one by one. Written as a modern reply to Molière's The Misanthrope, this modern comedy of academic manners examines the empty, insular lives of college intellectuals.

The Philanthropist premiered in 1970 at the Royal Court Theatre in London, The play made author Christopher Hampton, barely out of university, an overnight success. It transferred to the May Fair Theatre in the West End and ran there for over three years, subsequently going on a regional tour. In the meantime, the play had its Broadway debut in 1971 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. The play was revived in 2005 at the Donmar Warehouse in London and in 2009 at The American Airlines Theatre on Broadway in New York City.

Cast: 3 female, 4 male

What people say:

"A very witty comedy. A good evening of high class theatrical high jinks." — The New York Times

"The 1970 comedy, now enjoying a splendidly letter perfect revival by Court Theatre... glistens with clever theatrical in-jokes, ingenious verbal flip-flops and the bristling retorts that have inspired comedies of manner for centuries.... Best of all, this nearly 15-year-old work hasn't aged a day. Hampton's bizarre societal fantasies... are perfect commentaries on the madness of contemporary social wimpiness.." — Chicago-Tribune

About the Playwright:

Christopher Hampton is a British playwright, screenwriter, director, producer, and a consummate translator and adaptor of novels. He is perhaps most famous for his play Les Liaisons Dangereuses (based on the novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos), which won an Olivier Award in 1986. He adapted the play for film and won an Oscar for the screenplay. His theatre work includes the stage adaptation of Sunset Boulevard for Andrew Lloyd Webber, which received Tony Awards for both Book and Lyrics. He has translated a wide range of works including classics by Chekhov, Ibsen and Moliere as well as contemporary plays by Yasmina Reza and Florian Zeller. His long list of screenplays includes A Doll's House, The Good Father, Total Eclipse, and The Quiet American.