Christopher Hampton Plays 1: Total Eclipse; The Philanthropist; Savages; Treats

Description

This first collection of Hampton's work includes The Philanthropist, which premi red at the Royal Court Theatre in 1970 and went on to become one of the Court's longest-running West End transfers. The volume also contains Treats, Savages and Hampton's deeply affecting drama about the relationship of the French poets Rimbaud and Verlaine, Total Eclipse.

Christopher Hampton was born in the Azores in 1946. As a child he travelled around Aden, Egypt and Zanzibar. He was educated at Lancing College and in 1966 he went to New College, Oxford to study German and French, graduating in 1969 with a First Class degree. He wrote his first play, When Did You Last See Your Mother?, at the age of eighteen. It was first performed by Oxford undergraduates and subsequently moved to the Royal Court in June 1966. Since then, Christopher Hampton has worked on numerous original plays, adaptations and translations in the theatre, television and cinema. Hampton's plays are published by Faber in its Contemporary Classics series.

"The Philanthropist"A wonderful evening, intellectually stimulating, touchingly sympathetic and gloriously, gloriously funny."--"Sunday Times "Total Eclipse"A fine play...A deeply affecting work, simply and directly expressed in a language which does not need to strive to achieve its poetic effects."--"Sunday Times"Savages"A play that delicately, and with cumulative power, transcribes Mr Hampton's sorrow and indignation at the gradual extinction of the Brazilian Indians, and his reluctant but inexorable disillusionment with freedom fighters and liberal champions of good causes."--"Sunday Times"Treats"Mr Hampton writes with wit, elegance and a strong sense of character...Thoughtful, thought-provoking and funny."--"Times Educational Supplement "The Philanthropist" "A wonderful evening, intellectually stimulating, touchingly sympathetic and gloriously, gloriously funny."--"Sunday Times" "Total Eclipse" "A fine play...A deeply affecting work, simply and directly expressed in a language which does not need to strive to achieve its poetic effects."--"Sunday Times" "Savages" "A play that delicately, and with cumulative power, transcribes Mr Hampton's sorrow and indignation at the gradual extinction of the Brazilian Indians, and his reluctant but inexorable disillusionment with freedom fighters and liberal champions of good causes."--"Sunday Times" "Treats" "Mr Hampton writes with wit, elegance and a strong sense of character...Thoughtful, thought-provoking and funny."--"Times Educational Supplement"