David Hare
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Not to be confused with the artist of the same name.
Biography
One of the England's most important playwrights of the late 20th century, David Hare was the author and director of such highly regarded works as "Plenty" (1978), "Racing Demon" (1990), "Stuff Happens" (2004) and "The Vertical Hour" (2006). Hare's plays chronicled the decline of his native country as viewed through the lives of its residents in every social class - from everyday citizens to its heads of state. Hare also wrote and directed extensively for film and television, with such acclaimed films as "Plenty" (1985), "Wetherby" (1985), "The Hours" (2002) and "The Reader" (2008) among his numerous credits. Over the course of three decades, Hare's passion for social and political causes, as well as the quality of his work, placed him among the upper ranks of the world's dramatists.
Born David Rippon in St. Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex, England on June 5, 1947, he was the son of seafarer Clifford Rippon and his wife Agnes Gilmour. Educated at Lancing College and Jesus College in Cambridge, he arrived on the theater scene in the late 1960s as co-founder of the socially conscious Portable Theatre Company. He penned his first play, 1970's "Slag," for the troupe, out of sheer necessity - a promised script had never arrived, so Hare rose to the challenge. The play, about a trio of women who create an all-female boarding school to escape political and societal restrictions regarding their sex, introduced many of the themes that recurred in Hare's work throughout his career. Hare was deeply concerned with the state of England at the end of the 20th century, and examined what he considered its rapid decline in subsequent efforts like "England's Ireland" (1972), which focused on the two countries' combative relationship, and "Brassneck" (1973), a collaboration with Howard Brenton that used a family drama to explore the poisonous influence of capitalism and corruption on the middle class. In these projects and others, Hare was able to address far-reaching political and social themes through popular dramatic forms; in "Knuckle" (1974), he used the stylized dialogue and plotting of the pulp detective novel to explore the amoral business practices. His talent soon brought him to into established English theater circles, and he served as Resident Dramatist at the Royal Court Theater from 1970 to 1971 and later at the Nottingham Playhouse in 1973.
In 1978, Hare began writing for the National Theatre, which saw the first production of one of his best-known and most respected plays, "Plenty." A detailed depiction of the slow-building moral erosion of Britain's ruling class following World War II, it focused on the life of a former courier for the Special Operations Executive in France during the war whose life and dreams have spiraled into entropy. Hare directed both the London production, which earned him an Olivier nomination, and the New York versions in 1982 and 1983, where it received multiple Tony nominations and a New York Drama Critics' Circle award. He would later go on to pen the film adaptation by director Fred Schepsi, which starred Meryl Streep and John Gielgud. But Hare's involvement in film and television was already well established by the release of "Plenty" to theaters; his career as a television scribe and director was launched with "Licking Hitler" (BBC, 1978), a companion piece to "Plenty" about the relationship between a wartime propaganda writer and his assistant. The production won Hare a BAFTA for Best Single Television Play, and was soon followed by several other projects for television.
In 1984, Hare became Associate Director of the National Theatre, which produced such plays as "Pravda" (1985), a satire on the UK newspaper business, and a 1990s trilogy which targeted three of England's most formidable institutions: the Anglican church ("Racing Demon," 1990), the legal system ("Murmuring Judge," 1991) and Parliament with "Absence of War" (1992). Hare's film career remained equally noteworthy; he won the Golden Bear from the Berlin Film Festival for "Wetherby" (1985), a drama about the impact of a suicide on the life of a repressed schoolteacher (Vanessa Redgrave). "Paris By Night" (1988) starred Charlotte Rampling as a politician whose life is nearly undone by an adulterous affair, while "Strapless" (1989) offered the perennially unsung Blair Brown one of her best roles as an American doctor whose midlife crisis is challenged by the arrival of her younger sister (Bridget Fonda).
Hare triumphed again in 1995 with "Skylight," a three-character drama about the reunion between two lovers whose lives have taken very different economic and social paths. Another Olivier winner for Best Play, it also received a 1997 Tony nomination and became one of Hare's most well-regarded works. The following year, he directed Mike Nichols and Miranda Richardson in Wallace Shawn's "The Designated Mourner," which he later adapted to film with the same cast in 1997. Hare served as director or adapter of numerous plays and novels, including "King Lear" and Howard Brenton's Weapons of Happiness, as well as writings by Chekhov and Brecht.
Knighted for his contributions to theater in 1998, Hare showed no signs of slowing as the new millennium approached. "Via Dolorosa" (1998) was a monologue about the impact a visit to Israel and Palestine had on his psyche, while "My Zinc Bed" (2000), "The Breath of Life" (2002) and "The Permanent Way" (2003) again tackled national concerns through deeply personal stories. The latter, which explored the effect of Britain's privatization of its railway system through interviews with its citizens, paved the way for one of his most acclaimed later productions, 2004's "Stuff Happens." A blistering dissection of America and England's involvement in the Iraq War, the play mixed transcripts from interviews and press conferences with the Bush and Blair administrations with dramatic interpretations to present a wide tapestry of viewpoints on the controversial invasion.
Hare's career in film and television also continued to yield outstanding results. He received an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA Award, among numerous recognitions, for his script for "The Hours" (2002), Stephen Daldry's look at the complicated lives of three women whose lives were all linked by the Virginia Woolf novella, Mrs. Dalloway. Hare also began work on an adaptation of Jonathan Franzen's novel The Corrections shortly after completing "The Hours," but changes in director and production shifts kept the script in turnaround for nearly a half-decade. He also penned a book of lectures on politics and art titled Obedience, Struggle and Revolt, which was published in 2005, and returned to the subject of Iraq with "The Vertical Hour," which opened on Broadway in 2006 before traveling to London in 2008. Hare also directed Joan Didion's adaptation of her book The Year of Magical Thinking, about the loss of her husband John Dunne and their daughter's subsequent illness, for the Broadway stage in 2007.
In 2008, Hare penned the film script for "The Reader," which starred Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. Based on the novel by Bernhard Schlink, it concerned a German researcher (Fiennes) who discovers that the train conductor with whom he enjoyed a sexual relationship as a teenager was a former Nazi concentration camp guard. Showered by effusive praise by critics, Hare's script received Golden Globe and Satellite award nominations. That same year, his play "Gethsemane," which depicted a British government riddled with corruption, was presented at the National Theatre.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Visual Effects (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Writer (Special)
Special Thanks (Special)
Director (TV Mini-Series)
Writer (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1968
Co-founded the Portable Theatre, a traveling experimental company
1969
Served as literary manager and later as resident dramatist of the Royal Court Theatre
1977
Feature writing and directing debut, "Licking Hitler"
1983
Founded Greenpoint Films
1983
First solo screenplay credit for Stephen Fears' "Saigon - Year of the Cat"
1989
Returned to National Theatre as an associate director
1992
TV-movie debut, wrote and directed the cable movie, "Heading Home"
1993
Served as associate producer and also wrote screenplay for "The Secret Rapture" (based on his play)
1993
Directed an episode of the TV series, "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles"
1996
Received rave reviews for his play "Skylight"; later transferred to Broadway and received a Tony nomination for Best Play
1997
Enjoyed success with play "Amy's View"; featured a tour de force lead performance by Judi Dench; moved to Broadway in 1999
1998
Scripted "The Blue Room," which was performed by Nicole Kidman and Iain Glen at the Donmar Theatre in London (production later transferred to Broadway)
1998
Appeared as himself in the one-man show "Via Dolorosa" (recreated performance on Broadway in 1999)
1998
Penned the play about Oscar Wilde "The Judas Kiss" starring Liam Neeson (appeared in both the London and Broadway productions)
2000
Wrote and directed the stage play "My Zinc Bed" at the Royal Court in London
2002
Adapted Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer-winning novel "The Hours" for the screen; earned Golden Globe, BAFTA and Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay
2002
Penned the drama "The Breath of Life" which teamed Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith for the first time on stage
2004
Wrote the play "Stuff Happens" in response to the Iraq War; opened at the Royal National Theatre in London
2006
Scripted the Sam Mendes directed "The Vertical Hour"; premiered at the Music Box Theater on Broadway
2007
Directed Vanessa Redgrave as the sole cast member in Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking"
2008
Penned the film adaption of Bernhard Schlink's "The Reader"; earned Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Screenplay
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Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Not to be confused with the artist of the same name.
