Based on the novel "Sappho" by Alphonse Daudet A play about sexual obsession. Set in nineteenth-century Paris and the French countryside, it centres on a passionate love affair between a young man and an older woman. The novel on which the play is loosely based was published in 1884, hugely popular in its day and notorious for its supposed immorality. The story - or an approximation to it - has been filmed in England (1922), in America (1931) and twice in France (1934 and 1970). It also gave rise to the libretto of an opera by Massenet.

Author Biography

John Goodwin is the author of the best-selling book A Short Guide to Shakespeare's Plays and editor, among other books, of Peter Hall's Diaries. He was the Head of the Press and Publication department at the National Theatre, as well as the Royal Shakespeare Company.