Youth Without God

Christopher Hampton was born in the Azores in 1946. He wrote his first play, When Did You Last See My Mother?, at the age of eighteen. Since then, his plays have included The Philanthropist, Savages, Tales from Hollywood, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, White Chameleon, The Talking Cure, Appomattox and A German Life. Appomattox was turned into an opera by Philip Glass in 2014. He has translated plays by Ibsen, Molière, von Horváth, Chekhov and Yasmina Reza (including Art and Life x 3). He has translated seven plays by Florian Zeller, including The Father and The Son, both of which he subsequently co-wrote for the screen with Florian Zeller, winning an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Father in 2021. Musicals include Rebecca, Stephen Ward, Sunset Boulevard and The Third Man. His television work includes adaptations of The History Man, Hôtel du Lac and The Singapore Grip. His screenplays include The Honorary Consul, The Good Father, Dangerous Liaisons, Mary Reilly, Total Eclipse, The Quiet American, Atonement, Cheri, A Dangerous Method, Ali & Nino, Carrington, The Secret Agent and Imagining Argentina, the last three of which he also directed. Ödön von Horváth (1901-1938) was born in Fiume, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, of an aristocratic Hungarian-speaking family. His plays include: Italienische Nacht (Italian Night) 1931, Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald (Tales from the Vienna Woods) 1931, Kasimir und Karoline (Casimir and Caroline) 1932, Figaro Lässt sich Schieden (Figaro Gets a Divorce) 1937, Don Juan Kommt aus dem Krieg (Don Juan Comes Back from the War), produced 1952. Horváth's plays were banned when the Nazis came to power, then neglected in Germany until the 1950s.