Les Liaisons Dangereuses

02 The scandalous reputation of Laclos's novel, first published in 1782, is based on its chilling portrayal of the mannered decadence and sexual cynicism of the French aristocracy in the last years of the ancien regime.

Christopher Hampton has made a masterful adaptation for the stage of the conspiracy to corrupt a young girl barely out of her convent.
The scandalous reputation of Laclos's novel, first published in 1782, is based on its chilling portrayal of the mannered decadence and sexual cynicism of the French aristocracy in the last years of the ancien regime.

Christopher Hampton has made a masterful adaptation for the stage of the conspiracy to corrupt a young girl barely out of her convent.

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'Hampton's achievement is to have preserved the satanic magnetism of the twin conspirators while going all out for social comedy. But this is comedy of the highest theatrical kind: Edged with danger, replete with pain and forever reminding us that lives are being ruined with the flick of a well-turned phrase.' - Guardian

Christopher Hampton was born in the Azores in 1946. He wrote his first play, When Did You Last See Your Mother? at the age of eighteen. His work for the theatre, television and cinema includes The Philanthropist, adaptations of Ibsen and Moliere, and the screenplays Dangerous Liaisons, Carrington and The Secret Agent, the last two of which he also directed.