Christopher Hampton's The Philanthropist Set for the West End; Lily Cole, Simon Bird & More Tapped

Oscar and Tony winner Christopher Hampton's The Philanthropist is set to play a limited engagement at London's Trafalgar Studios. British star Simon Callow will direct a cast that includes Lily Cole (Snow White and The Huntsman on screen; The Last Days of Troy on stage) as the seductive Araminta and Simon Bird (The Inbetweeners) as Philip, the titular character. Performances will begin on April 3; the revival is set to run through July 22.

The cast will also include Matt Berry (Toast of London) as Braham, Charlotte Ritchie (Call the Midwife) as Celia and Tom Rosenthal (Friday Night Dinner) as Donald.

Lily Cole’s additional screen credits include St Trinian’s and Ab Fab: The Movie. Simon Bird is best known for his star-making turn in the BAFTA-winning The Inbetweeners.

The Philanthropist has been delighting audiences since its premiere at the Royal Court in 1970. An inversion of Molière’s The Misanthrope, the play is set in a fictitious English University town and follows 24 hours in the lives of a group of young academics. The action unfolds in the rooms of Philip (Bird), the university’s floundering professor of philology. When Philip hosts a dinner party, joined by his stylish and perceptive fiancée Celia (Ritchie), his worldlier best friend Donald (Rosenthal), the seductive Araminta (Cole) and the wealthy and egomaniacal novelist Braham (Berry), the evening sets off a chain of events which puncture the rarefied and cerebral world they inhabit.

Additional casting and creative team will be announced at a later date.