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the complete review - drama

The Philanthropist

by
Christopher Hampton

general information | our review | links | about the author

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Our Assessment:

B+ : entertaining though somewhat odd play

See our review for fuller assessment.

The complete review's Review:

       The Philanthropist begins with quite a bang. Philip is a "bachelor don". He is a philologist, pleased and fascinated by words: "it's exactly the right subject for me". A friend of Philip's, Donald, brings a young playwright over, to read from his play. The playwright takes Philip's comments the wrong way and ... well, as Donald says a few days later: "the whole evening was a disaster".
       The next scenes take place before and after a dinner at Philip's. Donald is there, as is Philip's fiancée, Celia, a popular novelist (Braham Head), Liz (interested in Philip), and Araminta.
       Events are also unfolding in the world at large: it seems that the Prime Minister and most of the Cabinet have been done away with (though it isn't cause for too much consternation). Violent death seems all around: there is also an organization called F.A.T.A.L, targetting "twenty-five of the most eminent English writers" -- a list Braham isn't sure he should be "relieved or insulted" not to find himself on.
       Love is also in the air -- or sex, at least. Couples form -- but not quite the ones that should. Philip doesn't ask Celia to stay behind after dinner (though she offers), and finds himself in an unexpected situation. The morning after things sort themselves out, in a way.
       The consequences leave, more or less, things for the best: it turns out that, clearly, Philip isn't quite the right man for Celia after all (or for at least one of his other dinner-guests), for example.
       Hampton offers some witty dialogue and fairly interesting conflicts between the characters. It's an odd play -- with the characters apparently leading such insular lives that the assassination of the most of the members of government hardly touches them at all -- but good entertainment all around. It has also held up well: the author revised it for the 1985 edition, and it doesn't feel very dated. Fun and clever, and quite well done.

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Links:

• Faber publicity page (Plays 1)
• The Company of Players production
• UMD Theatre production

• FFWD Weekly

• Profile at GuardianUnlimited
• Interview at Cinema Stardust

• Tales from Hollywood
• The Talking Cure
• White Chameleon
• See also: the plays of Yasmina Reza (translated by Hampton)

• See Index of Drama under review

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About the Author:

       British playwright Christopher Hampton was born in 1946. He has written and translated numerous plays and screenplays.

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