Hampton became involved in the theatre while studying German and French at Oxford University where OUDS performed his play When Did You Last See My Mother?, about adolescent homosexuality, reflecting his own experiences at Lancing College, the boarding school he had attended. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for the film adaptation of Ian McEwan's Atonement. Hampton became involved in the theatre while studying German and French at Christopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. And gradually, the hint that real love can lie somewhere beneath all the degradation is allowed to emerge.īy any standards, this play is a bold challenge and a demanding enterprise.Christopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director.
At times she could be more fearsomely icy, his serial womaniser could be more compellingly suave, but the characters are firmly established. Julie Godfrey and Mark Crossley strike sparks off each other with massive slabs of dialogue. In terms of overall plot, the theme is developed through the aristocratic lovers, the Marquise and the Vicomte, and their ugly attempts to manipulate and destroy virtue in others. The play’s other victim is 15-year-old convent girl Cecile whose somewhat dizzy and more joyous fall into corruption is handled with considerable style by Laura Hayward. Elizabeth Morris delivers this scene with power and agonising sensitivity. Of these, none is more riveting than Madame de Tourvel’s gradual descent from cold propriety to avid sexual desire. Sue Moore’s production would then benefit more from its ready range of assets, notably terrific costumes and performances hitting a high level of dramatic intensity. These could surely be curtailed with more use made of the wide stage area, thus dispelling the kind of feeling you get from television commercials popping up every few minutes. And the Loft unfortunately adds to the problem by a never-ending sequence of scene changes which, while executed with military precision, serve to dilute the impact and add many further unwelcome minutes to the running time. It’s a lengthy, articulate look into the murky minds of upper classes who indulge in sexual cruelty and manipulation as their own form of idle sport.įor all its skilful, probing dialogue, to say nothing of a healthy batch of theatre awards, the play is too long. Theatrically speaking, of course.Ĭhristopher Hampton’s adaptation from a steamy French novel spares no blushes in its cold-blooded expose of late-18th century lust and immorality.
SEX and seduction are in full swing at the Loft as it launches its new year. Loft Theatre, Leamington, until February 1