British playwright David Hare was born June 5, 1947, in St. Leonards, Sussex, England, the son of Clifford and Agnes Gilmour Hare. Clifford Hare was a sailor, and when David was five, the family moved to Bexhill-on-Sea, also in Sussex. Hare attended Lancing College and then went on to Jesus College, Cambridge, in order to study with famed Marxist Raymond Williams. After graduating from Cambridge in 1968 with an honors M.A. in English, Hare briefly worked for the film company A. B. Pathé before co-founding the Portable Theatre Company with Tony Bicât. Portable Theatre, a touring experimental theatre group, became a leader in the fringe theatre movement. Hare wrote his first plays for Portable Theatre and served as its director from 1968-71. He also served as literary manager of the Royal Court Theatre from 1969-70 and as its resident dramatist from 1970-71.
Hare's first major play,
In
In addition to directing his own plays, Hare has directed such works as
Like many British playwrights, Hare has written teleplays for the BBC.
Hare has written several screenplays and even founded a film company, Greenpoint Films, in 1982. Among screenplays by Hare are
Hare married theatrical agent Margaret Mathieson in 1970; they had three children, Joe, Darcy, and Lewis, before divorcing in 1980. Hare married designer Nicole Farhi in December 1992.
David Hare's papers were acquired by the HRHRC in 1993. Additional materials are expected for the collection, and they will be described separately.
More information about David Hare and his work may be found in his autobiographical
The David Hare papers consist of typescript drafts (many with holograph revisions), notes, lists, rehearsal scripts, schedules, production notes, correspondence, theatre programs, a poster, clippings and articles, brochures, resumes, photographs, page proofs, and published texts associated with Hare's plays, teleplays, screenplays, and essays, as well as foreign-language translations of Hare's works; works by other authors; personal correspondence; minutes of meetings; and Hare's English papers from Cambridge University, all ranging in date from 1968 to 1993. The material is organized in six series: Works by Hare (1970-92, nd, 27.5 boxes); Collaborations (1971-87, 1.5 boxes); Directing Activities (1969-86, nd, 1 box); Theatre Group Activities (1965, 1971-88, nd,.5 box); Career and Personal (1968-92, nd, 4 boxes); and Works by Others (1993, nd,.5 box).
All of David Hare's stage plays, teleplays, and screenplays from the beginning of his career through 1991 are represented in some form and, along with articles, essays, lectures, and some unpublished works, comprise the largest series. Multiple drafts; rehearsal scripts; notes and dialog fragments; rejected scenes; production material, including casting and rehearsal notes, rehearsal calls, schedules, memos, financial information, and programs; foreign language translations by other authors, and versions of published texts are all present. Among Hare's major stage plays are
The files also document Hare's involvement with fringe theatres such as the Portable Theatre Co. and Joint Stock Theatre Group, as well as his later associations with the Royal Court Theatre and the Royal National Theatre. Hare was a founder of Portable Theatre, and relating to that venture are materials from the production of
While correspondence is scattered throughout the collection, most of it
is gathered in the Career and Personal Series. The correspondence is a strength
of the collection, and letters, notes, cards, postcards, and telegrams from
friends, relatives, colleagues, actors and actresses, other directors, a
variety of theatre companies, and theatrical, political and academic
organizations may be found. Topics include business matters, Hare's social and
political concerns, and personal matters. Noteworthy correspondents include
Hare's agent Margaret
Hare has been called a political playwright, and his social and political concerns are reflected throughout the collection. For example, Hare served on the Board of Trustees of Jarrow 86 Trust Ltd., which campaigned against high unemployment levels; letters regarding its financial difficulties were sent to Hare by Simon Osborn. Indications of Hare's political leanings are found in the minutes of the June 20 Group, essays on Thatcher and the political right, and correspondence with organizations such as the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Justice, the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, and the
Although Hare's career began as official censorship of plays in Britain ended in 1968, he has always been concerned with the issues of censorship and the power of the press in its choice of what to publish. He regarded the unwillingness of theatres to present
Hare has collaborated on various works with Nick Bicât, Tony Bicât, Howard Brenton, David Edgar, and Snoo Wilson, among others. Notable collaborations represented in the collection include
As a director, Hare has directed not only productions of his own plays, but also plays by Tony Bicât, Howard Brenton, Trevor Griffiths, Christopher Hampton, and Snoo Wilson. Typescripts, correspondence, and production material from these are contained in the collection.
Within the Works by Others series are two screenplays,
Other manuscripts relating to Hare at the HRHRC may be found in the London Review of Books (correspondence 1979-81), James Saunders, and Tom Stoppard collections.
Purchase, 1993
Open for research
Katherine Mosley and Joan Sibley, 1995
Hare's stage plays, teleplays, and screenplays are interfiled and arranged alphabetically by title. Hare's autobiographical book,
All of Hare's major plays from the beginning of his career through 1991 are represented. Of particular interest among the manuscripts of Hare's best-known works are a copy of a rehearsal script of
Among typescripts of Hare's lesser-known and one-act plays, some of which have never been published, are those for his first play, the one-act
Hare's teleplays are present in the collection as drafts and a camera script of the unpublished
Drafts, rejected scenes, and a French translation of Hare's screen adaptation of Josephine Hart's
Drafts of a collection of autobiographical essays,
Hare's original folder titles have been retained and are indicated by single quotation marks in the folder list, while alternate titles of works are given in brackets. Hare's filing system has been maintained, so that some correspondence regarding a work is housed with that work, while similar letters remain housed with general correspondence in the Career and Personal series. All correspondents are listed in the Index of Correspondents at the end of this inventory.
At various times during his career, David Hare has collaborated with Nick Bicât, Tony Bicât, Howard Brenton, Ken Campbell, Brian Clark, David Edgar, Francis Fuchs, Reg Gadney, Trevor Griffiths, Steven Poliakoff, Tim Rose Price, Hugh Stoddart, and Snoo Wilson. Of these, the best known are two stage plays written with Howard Brenton,
In addition to directing his own plays, Hare has directed some of the first productions of plays by his contemporaries. Included in the collection are a typescript of Howard Brenton's
Hare is also important in modern British theatre for his involvement with fringe theatres that produced the early works of many contemporary playwrights. From his association with the Portable Theatre Company come a press release, clippings, a program, and correspondence connected with its production of
In 1988, Hare, Margaret Drabble, Antonia Fraser, Michael Holroyd,
John Mortimer, Harold Pinter, Salman Rushdie, and others met as what came to be
called the June 20 Group to discuss ways to reestablish the intellectual basis
of the political left. Summary notes on that meeting, along with a cover letter
from Pinter to Hare, are present. Hare's
Hare's chronological arrangement of his correspondence has been maintained, and included are both his personal correspondence and that relating to his work. Noteworthy correspondents include David Aukin; Tony Bicât; Diana Boddington; Nell Campbell; Frances Conroy; Judi Dench; Pennie Downie; David Edgar; Richard Eyre; publisher Frank Pike at Faber and Faber; Reg Gadney; William Gaskill; Jane Greenwood; Trevor Griffiths; Peter Hall and others at the National Theatre; Christopher Hampton; Josephine Hart; agents Margaret “Peggy” Ramsay and Tom Erhardt at Margaret Ramsay Ltd.; Hare's ex-wife, Margaret Matheson; accountants Midgley and Snelling; John Mortimer; Kate Nelligan; John Osborne; Joseph Papp; Patsy Pollock; Charlotte Rampling; Philip Roth; Salman Rushdie; Roshan Seth; Wallace Shawn; Max Stafford-Clark and others from the Royal Court Theatre; Tom Stoppard; Anna Trojanowski; Irving Wardle; Michael Weller; Caroline Wilson; and Snoo Wilson. Some letters are accompanied by clippings, photographs, or brochures. A separate folder of correspondence with William Hinton about
Theatre programs and leaflets include those for Hare's own plays
Hare's English papers from Cambridge University date from 1968.
Typescrpts of works by other authors, in addition to those directed by Hare, are arranged alphabetically by author. Among them are the screenplays
Each folder contains one letter written by that correspondent to David Hare unless otherwise indicated in parentheses. Organizational affiliations are also indicated in parentheses.