David Hare

Straight Line Crazy

November 1, 2022

Ralph Fiennes’ towering performance as a megalomaniac who changes the face of New York as we know it is worth the price of admission. With his puffed out chest and nose in the air remaking himself physically, he creates a biographical portrait which will go down in the theater annals. Co-directors Nicholas Hytner and Jamie Armitage keep all the data and speechifying fascinating despite what could be the dryness of the material. And let’s not forget David Hare’s achievement to place the 30 year career of builder Robert Moses front and center on stage without overwhelming us with facts and figures but creating drama out of real life confrontations. "Straight Line Crazy" may just prove to be the dramatic high point of this theater season. [more]

Plenty

October 29, 2016

In his Broadway productions, David Leveaux has often used a strong directorial concept such as his Chekhovian 'Fiddler on the Roof" and his interracial "Romeo and Juliet" which did not work for all theatergoers. Here he seems to have decided that Susan finds life in Britain gray on her return and all of the sets by Mike Britton other than the final one (ironically suggesting the hope of the post-war generation) are made up of gray walls. As a result, none of them have any atmosphere aside from all resembling each other. It is left to the costumes by Jess Goldstein to give clues to the year of each scene which they sometimes do, and sometimes not. [more]

The Judas Kiss

May 29, 2016

British film star Rupert Everett gives a bravura performance as playwright and author Oscar Wilde in the Chichester Festival Theater revival of "The Judas Kiss" by David Hare now at the BAM Harvey. His nuanced performance is remarkable considering how little active the play allows him to be. Wilde dominates the plot even though he sits center stage in the play’s two acts, first in a hotel room in London immediately before and then in a villa outside of Naples immediately after his arrest and incarceration for “gross indecency,” what Victorian England called homosexuality. This is a Wilde we haven’t seen before: rather than tossing off quips and aphorisms, this is a man who is deeply in love and conflicted about questions of self-identity and legacy. He attempts to remain true to his persona at a tremendous cost. [more]

Skylight

April 13, 2015

With its ravishing, precise dialogue, very fine structure, and expertly imparted exposition, Skylight, is a model of accomplished playwriting. Mr. Hare is known for his Leftist political beliefs with which he infuses his plays. Here, in early post-Thatcher Britain, he has his characters eloquently debate their clashing world views, along with differing personal takes on their relationship. [more]

BROADWAY’S 2006 Fall/Winter Season

January 27, 2007

The White Way barely had time to recover from last season’s exciting Tony race when Martin Short roused the sleeping giant with his manic ode to himself, Fame Becomes Me. [more]