HARE, SIR DAVID

born June 5, 1947, St. Leonards, Sussex, Eng. British playwright and director, noted for his deftly crafted satires examining British society in the post-World War II era. Hare received his master's degree from Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1968 and founded an experimental touring theatre group that same year. He directed some of its productions and soon began writing plays for the group, including How Brophy Made Good (1969). With the plays Slag (1970), The Great Exhibition (1972), and Knuckle (1974), Hare established himself as a talented playwright and a vigorous critic of the dubious mores of British public life. Teeth 'n' Smiles (1975) examined the milieu of rock musicians, while the widely praised play Plenty (1978) was a searching study of the erosion of a woman's personality over a 20-year period, metaphorically evoking Britain's contemporaneous postwar decline. A Map of the World (1982), a complexly structured survey of Western and Third World ideologies, received a mixed reception, as did Pravda: A Fleet Street Comedy (1985), which was a popular success. A trilogy of plays on various institutionsRacing Demon (1990), Murmuring Judges (1991), and Absence of War (1993)examines religion, the legal system, and political parties of contemporary England. With the notable exception of Plenty, many of Hare's plays were received unenthusiastically when produced in the United States after their British premieres. Hare was a respected screenwriter, best known for his film adaptation of Plenty in 1985. The Secret Rapture (1988), a play exploring the complex relationship between two sisters, was also adapted for film in 1994. Hare also wrote several plays for television and wrote and directed the films Wetherby (1985) and Strapless (1989). He continued to direct productions at various London theatres during the 1970s and '80s. He was knighted in 1998.