The Drinking Party. Modern (1965) recreation of "Symposium" by Plato. by Leo Aylen & Jonathan Miller.

18/10/2021

Leo Aylen & Jonathan Miller’s play recreate Plato's "Symposium" as ‘The Drinking Party’, with Alan Bennet as Eryximachus and Roddy Maude-Roxby as Aristophanes.

The entertaining script plays out as a picnic organised by an Oxbridge don for his students, and stays faithful to the drinking party recorded by Plato, where Socrates asks each guest to explain the nature of Love. By a series of questions, Socrates leads the guests to conclude that Love is the Highest Good, and that God is Love. This Socratic dialogue may be said to be the basis for Western Philosophy.