White Chameleon

by Christopher Hampton

An autobiographical play reflects the author's experiences during his youth in Egypt in the period between the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 and the Suez crisis

Genres: English Literature, Drama, Plays

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Christopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. 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 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. The play was performed at the Royal Court Theatre in London, and that production soon transferred to the Comedy Theatre, resulting in Hampton, in 1966, becoming the youngest writer to have a play performed in the West End in the modern era.

From 1968-70 he worked as the Resident Dramatist at the Royal Court Theatre, and also as the company's literary manager. Hampton won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1988 for the screen adaptation of his play Dangerous Liaisons. He was nominated again in 2007 for adapting Ian McEwan's novel Atonement. Hampton forthcoming project is the translation into English of Michael Kunze & Sylvester Levay's Austrian musical Rebecca based on Daphne du Maurier's book which is scheduled to premiere in 2009 in Canada, and then move to Broadway in 2010.

Reviews

[Asser Mattar · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting semi-autobiographical short play on the memories of an English child in Alexandria in the early 1950s. The depiction of the only Egyptian character in the play is that of a stereotypical colonial subject, even though I don't think it is intentional, as the author and the characters of him as a child and his father seem to adopt an anti-colonial, anti-war stance. They are accused of being not patriotic enough. The representation of Alexandria itself in the play is very limited, except for the mention of a few places. The focus is rather on the small circle of the main character Chris and the few people around him.

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A witty and sad memory play by Christopher Hampton, set in Alexandria in the years up to and during the Suez invasion.

It is about his father, in Egypt working for Cable and Wireless, his mother, also from a Cable and Wireless family, and Ibrahim, the Egyptian servant who has been running the house for 20 years and who helps 10-year-old Chris, the future playwright, make up dramas for homework.

As it turned out, his first play was on in the West End when he was 20. His best-known plays include Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Total Eclipse, The Philanthropist and Tales From Hollywood. His films include Carrington, which he wrote and directed and which won the Jury Prize at Cannes, and Dangerous Liaisons for which he won an Oscar.

This autobiographical play is about the sense he has of his roots in this particular place, his early realisation that he was born to be a writer and also of the experience in his own life, as a child in Egypt, of the sudden dislocations that marked the end of Empire.

Alex Jennings plays Chris's father, Amanda Root his mother and Mido Hamada the redoubtable Ibrahim. The play is narrated by Christopher Hampton himself.

Narrator ... Christopher Hampton
Father ... Alex Jennings
Ibrahim ... Mido Hamada
Mother ... Amanda Root
Chris ... Harvey O'Neil
Guard/Fouad/Basso/Stockman/Shoes-shine man/Egyptian boy ... Ayman Hamdouchi
Albert ... David Annen
Edward ... Harrison Charles
Paul ... Harry Manton
Schoolboy ... Josef Lindsay

Egyptian singers:
Tony Kandel
Yazid Eid
Robert Hannouch

Pianist: Michael Webborn

Director: Polly Thomas
Producer: Ann Scott
Broadcast on:
BBC Radio 4, 2:30pm Saturday 24th July 2010
Duration:
75 minutes
Available until:
3:47pm Saturday 31st July 2010
Category:
Drama

[Rosaux · Rating 4 out of 5]

الكتاب عبارة عن سيرة ذاتية بسيطة للكاتب
وهي تجسد مرحلة من اهم مراحل التاريخية لمصر من منظور طفل صغير لأحد المعمرين ونضرته المختلفة للامور
والكاتب لا يخفي إعجابه بأرض الكنانة خصوصا مدينة الاسكندرية
كتاب صغير ومهم

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good, for a semi-autobiographical play.

[وائل المنعم · Rating 1 out of 5]

مسرحية مملة وسخيفة ليس لها أية قيمة فنية، بل قيمتها تأريخية فقط، وهو دور لا يكفي لأن يقام عليه عمل فني.