Benefactors

Michael Frayn’s work runs from the ridiculous to the sublime. He has been called one of our most extraordinary contemporary playwrights. This inventive comedy, Benefactors, proves the adage that “no good deed goes unpunished”. David, an architect, is awarded the opportunity to transform one of London’s worst neighborhoods into a paradise of the future. His actions are thwarted at every turn by the best intentions of his overly supportive wife and their overly needy neighbors. While he negotiates the maze of municipal mandates, his liberal idealism fades as the world changes around him – just as he is trying to change it himself. Benefactors explores the interplay between politics and architecture; those who help and those who are helped; those who create and those who destroy.