Inspirational Quotes by Christopher Hampton (British Playwright, Screenwriter)

Christopher Hampton (b.1946) is a celebrated British playwright, screenwriter, translator, and film director. His most successful work was his adaptation of the French play Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1985,) which garnered great commercial success.

Born on the Faial Island in the Azores archipelago, Portugal, Hampton grew up in Aden, Singapore, and Zanzibar before attending Oxford to study French and German. It was during this time that his first play, When Did You Last See My Mother? (1964,) was performed at Oxford and subsequently made its way to the West End. At just 20 years old, Hampton became the youngest playwright ever to have a play produced on the West End. This early success paved the way for his appointment as the first resident dramatist at the Royal Court Theatre in London. The Royal Court would go on to produce all of his early plays, including Total Eclipse (1968,) The Philanthropist (1970,) Savages (1973,) and Treats (1976.) Tales from Hollywood (1982) is widely regarded as his finest play.

During the 1980s, Hampton reached even greater heights with his adaptations of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses for both the stage in 1985 and the screen in 1989. The stage production won both Olivier and Tony Awards. He also directed and adapted the film Carrington (1995) based on British writer Michael Holroyd’s biographies of Lytton Strachey.

Besides his writing, Hampton made his mark as a film director and was the artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre in London 1970–71. He co-wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Sunset Boulevard, adapted Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull for the stage, and wrote the screenplay for the film Atonement (2007,) based on Ian McEwan’s novel. He also translated several plays by French playwright Yasmina Reza, including Art (1994) and God of Carnage (2006.)

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