David Hare stands as a leader in the generation of young British dramatists who came to the fore in the 1970s, a group that includes David Edgar, Trevor Griffiths, Steven Poliakoff, and the so-called ...
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In the following unfavorable review of Paris by Night, Moore discusses Hare's portrayal of right-wing women and sexual difference.
Democracy works in mysterious ways. So mysterious in fact that...
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In the following review, Weales discusses the problematic portrayal of the female protagonist in The Secret Rapture.
The sound of shotguns can be heard offstage during the final scene of the first act...
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In the following excerpt, Morrone offers an unfavorable assessment of Strapless, finding fault with the film's casting and characterizations.
Four films concerning women that were presented at ...
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In the following review, Hebblethwaite offers a positive assessment of Racing Demon.
God is not mocked, but the Church of England very frequently is. Its demise has often been confidently predicted. D...
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In the following review, Kennedy cites Hare's Racing Demon as original for its focus on the search for vocation in a vacuous England.
Jesus is back. Thanks to the wholesale revival of evangelic...
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In the following excerpt, Hornby complains of Hare's confused politics and “bad aesthetics” in The Secret Rapture.
David Hare is a playwright I wish I could like, but I can’...
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In the following review, Kauffmann argues that Hare's dramatic works have taken a change for the worse, especially as evident in Strapless.
David Hare is going to the bad, which in his case mea...
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In the following essay, Golomb examines aspects of Christian religious parable in The Secret Rapture, particularly within the role of the female protagonist.
If ye were of the world, the world would l...
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In the following review, Wu admires the traditional dramatic ideas of Writing Left-Handed.
David Hare’s introduction to this collection of prose pieces written since 1978 is characteristically ...
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In the following review, Papineau calls Murmuring Judges mere “easy entertainment.”
Few things are more unacceptable than the long-term imprisonment of an innocent person. Yet the Britis...
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In the following excerpt, Lavender compares the work of Arthur Miller and Hare, and offers praise for the Greek influence apparent in Murmuring Judges.
The love affair between Arthur Miller and Britai...
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In the following review, Lezard offers an unfavorable assessment of the film Damage.
On paper, the film Damage has everything going for it: directed by Louis Malle, starring Jeremy Irons and Miranda ...
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In the following review, Milne views The Absence of War as less interesting than the earlier two plays in Hare's trilogy.
Once upon a time, there was a Labour leader who lost. He had one chance...
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In the following review, Wheen criticizes Hare's Asking Around for merely being the notes and “workings” of real-life politics.
In the days before pocket calculators and computers...
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In the following essay, Cohn examines the portrayal of women in Hare's dramas and films, noting the strengths and weaknesses of the female characters in light of harsh feminist criticism of Har...
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In the following essay, Glenn provides an overview of the political themes, staging, and critical reception of Hare's trilogy—Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges, and The Absence of War.
As o...
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In the following review, King offers a positive evaluation of Hare's trilogy—Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges, and The Absence of War.
Throughout his prolific career as author of stage, sc...
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In the following review, Lavender favorably assesses Hare's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's play Galileo.
“It is treason to use Brecht without criticising him,” the east Ger...
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In the following review, Jays describes Skylight as “obvious and inconsistent.”
I love my love with an S, because it is secret. It feeds on silence and its name is Skylight.
What do you ...
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In the following review, O'Connor offers a tempered evaluation of Hare's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's play Mother Courage and Her Children.
What a long road it seems, since the ...
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In the following review, Simon praises the direction, writing, and acting in Racing Demon.
Lincoln Center Theater finally has a winner in Racing Demon. If the late, unlamented Sacrilege showed us how ...
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In the following essay, DeVinney examines elements of bildungsroman and individual states of social and political consciousness in the television versions of Dreams of Leaving and Heading Home.
David ...
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In the following review, Lahr offers a tempered evaluation of Skylight, which he views as an unsatisfying compromise between “conscience and comfort.”
David Hare has been one of the most...
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In the following review, Simon praises Skylight for being “open to multiple interpretations.”
After World War II, new British playwrights burst forth like gangbusters. It was like a bicy...
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In the following review, Kanfer offers an adverse appraisal of Skylight, finding fault in the play's one-sided sociopolitical argument.
David Hare’s villain never varies. Different guise...
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In the following review, Brustein gives a negative evaluation of Skylight, though he praises the performance of Michael Gambon in the Royale Theatre production of the play.
David Hare’s new pla...
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In the following review, Reynolds praises Hare's adaptation of Anton Chekhov's play Ivanov.
The 1887 Moscow premiere of Ivanov, the first full-length play Chekhov completed, was famously...
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In the following essay, Su examines Hare's sentimental vision of an idealized British past and its underlying function as a point of reference for interpreting contemporary political realities ...
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In the following review, Lahr praises Amy's View.
This summer, the English have seen two well-managed changings of the guard: the British withdrawal from Hong Kong and Sir Richard Eyre’s...
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In the following review, King offers a positive assessment of Amy's View.
The title character of David Hare’s latest play, Amy’s View, is the daughter of Esme Allen, a woman whose...
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In the following review, Lahr offers a commendatory estimation of Hare's adaptation of Anton Chekhov's play Ivanov.
As the lights come up on David Hare’s crisp adaptation of Ivano...
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In the following review, Kellaway offers a favorable valuation of The Judas Kiss.
David Hare’s superb new play The Judas Kiss is about love that disdains reason. Oscar Wilde must have known, on...
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In the following excerpt, Hornby offers a detrimental estimation of The Judas Kiss.
The plays and film about Oscar Wilde that have come out lately all stress his role as gay martyr. Since he got two y...
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In the following review, Kellaway offers an affirmative evaluation of Via Dolorosa.
When David Hare walked on stage on the first night of Via Dolorosa, his nerves were apparent, his voice putting a fa...
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In the following review of Via Dolorosa, Newey finds Hare's stage persona as writer, actor, and moralist confusing.
Early in his new play about Israel, Sir David Hare quotes a remark by his fri...
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In the following review, Kellaway presents a disapproving estimation of The Blue Room.
The blue room announces itself in red neon. Yves Klein could have dreamt up the set (Mark Thompson was, in fact, ...
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In the following excerpt, Lahr assesses Hare's The Blue Room as unsufferable and dispassionate.
As the world knows, the film star Nicole Kidman is in a play—David Hare’s “f...
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In the following review, Simon offers a salutary estimate of Via Dolorosa.
Does a playwright’s holding forth in person for 90 minutes about journeying to Israel and the Gaza Strip sound like go...
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In the following review, Duguid offers an unsatisfactory appraisal of Plenty.
David Hare was born in 1947, and grew up with films and comics about the Second World War. In 1978, when he came to write ...
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David Hare
