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David Rippon Hare

デイヴィッド・リップン・ヘア

David Rippon Hare

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1947-06-05 （St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, Sussex, England）
Nationality
British
Languages
English
Residence History
Bexhill-on-Sea (raised) → London (professional base)

Career

Occupations
playwright, screenwriter, director
Active Years
1968-
Affiliations
Royal National Theatre (Associate Director), Royal Society of Literature (Fellow)
Memberships
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
Nominations
Tony Award (Best Play) – Plenty (1983), Tony Award (Best Play) – Racing Demon (1996), Tony Award (Best Play) – Skylight (1997)

Education

Lancing College
Period: 1950s–1960s（中等教育）
Country: United Kingdom
Attended independent school in Sussex
Jesus College, Cambridge
English Literature
Degree: MA (Cantab.)
Period: 1960s
Country: United Kingdom
Studied English Literature at Cambridge; active in university drama

Awards

Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play
1990
Work: Racing Demon
Category: Best New Play
Organization: Laurence Olivier Awards (Society of London Theatre)
Result: winner
Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play
1996
Work: Skylight
Category: Best New Play
Organization: Laurence Olivier Awards (Society of London Theatre)
Result: winner
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2003
Work: The Hours (screenplay)
Category: Best Adapted Screenplay
Organization: Writers Guild of America
Result: winner
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2003
Work: The Hours
Category: Best Adapted Screenplay
Organization: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Result: nominee
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2009
Work: The Reader
Category: Best Adapted Screenplay
Organization: Academy
Result: nominee
Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear
1985
Organization: Berlin International Film Festival
Result: winner
Knight Bachelor
1998
Organization: Queen's Birthday Honours
Result: knighted
BAFTA Award
1979
Organization: British Academy of Film and Television Arts
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Plenty

1978 Theatre (drama)

A play about postwar Britain and changing expectations; adapted into a 1985 film.

postwar transitionsocial expectationpersonal disappointment
Adaptations
  • [film] Plenty (film) / Fred Schepisi (1985)

Racing Demon

1990 Theatre (political/social drama)

Part of a trilogy about British institutions, focusing on the Church of England and institutional conflict.

religion and institutionsethicsreform

Skylight

1995 Theatre (intimate drama)

A two-character play about an unexpected reunion that examines values and social position.

love and regretsocial classmoral conflict

The Hours (screenplay)

2002 Film (screenplay/adaptation)

Screenplay adapted from Michael Cunningham's novel, interweaving the lives of three women.

timeless lonelinesscreativity and sacrifice

The Reader

2008 Film (screenplay/adaptation)

Adaptation of Bernhard Schlink's novel dealing with postwar Germany and questions of guilt.

guilt and atonementmemory and morality

Bibliography

  • Writing Left-Handed (essays)
  • The Blue Touch Paper: A Memoir (2015)
  • We Travelled: Essays and Poems (2021)

Adaptations

  • Plenty → film (1985)
  • The Hours → film (2002, screenplay)
  • The Reader → film (2008, screenplay)

Translations by Author

  • Translation of Mother Courage and Her Children (Bertolt Brecht, 1995)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
incisive social and political commentaryrealistic yet polemical contemporary dramadialogue-driven, direct theatrical language
Recurring Motifs
public institutions and their flawspower and responsibilityindividual vs society

Health

  • COVID-19
    2020
    Contracted COVID-19 in 2020; the experience informed the monologue 'Beat the Devil'

Legacy

David Hare is one of the leading postwar and contemporary British playwrights and screenwriters, known for incisive works about public institutions and power. He has received international recognition across theatre, film and television.

Academic Societies

  • Royal Society of Literature (Fellow)

Archives

  • David Hare Papers at the Harry Ransom Center (University of Texas at Austin)

In Popular Culture

  • Stage works adapted to film and performed by notable actors (e.g., Meryl Streep in the film Plenty)

Quotes

  • I am interested in the struggle to make procedures work better — right now — not in waiting until some revolution comes along to raze the current system and replace it with perfection.
    Source: Interview / critical commentary (excerpt)

Trivia

  • Sold his archive to the Harry Ransom Center in 1993.
  • Was knighted in 1998 for services to theatre.
  • First married Margaret Matheson (three children); married Nicole Farhi in 1992.