Social niecties and humanitarian causes clash in The Charity That Began At Home, St John Hankin’s 1903 play about a woman who invites guests to dinner not because she likes them, but because they need her.

Lady Denison’s house party comes with a difference. She doesn’t invite people she likes, but people who are in need. It’s a lesson she’s learnt from Mr Hylton, the founder of the Church of Humanity. True hospitality, he claims, is to ask people into your house, not because you like them, but beacause they are in need of you. Lady Denison’s daughter couldn’t agree more, but her sister has very different ideas indeed.

St John Hankin’s 1905 comedy is still as funny today as it was when it was written and marks the third Hankin play produced at the Orange Tree Theatre; following on from the huge successes of The Return Of The Prodigal and The Cassilis Engagement.