73. Is the Avant Garde Dead? With Sir David Hare

On this week’s episode we’re honoured that our guest is Sir David Hare, not just one of Britain’s leading playwrights, but also a screenwriter and theatre and film director. He’s written over 40 full length plays, 19 staged at the National, including Plenty (which went on to be a star-studded movie), Skylight and many more. He talks to us about his new play Straight Line Crazy, directed by Nicholas Hytner and showing at The Bridge Theatre in London. It opened to many reviewers saying this was David’s most dramatically play for decades and stars Ralph Fiennes as Robert Moses, the man who set out to build parks and expressways across Manhattan in the 1950’s. It’s extraordinarily relevant to the way London is being developed at such a hectic pace, often with little or no concern for its residents. Moses wanted to extend the lower Manhattan expressway through the residential district of Washington Square where he was met by fierce opposition who managed to block the plans. One of his opponents Jane Jacobs, played by Helen Schlesinger, went on to write The Death and Life of American Great Cities about the ongoing battle between communities and the planners who oppose them. David also talks about his frequent collaborations with Ralph Fiennes, who starred last year in David’s one-man play about battling Covid, Beat the Devil. He talks about the influence of America on his work and his period of self-imposed exile there after the critics panned Plenty. He laments the passing of an age in which theatre producers from Peter Hall to Richard Eyre took risks and stood by avant garde writers to be replaced by our ‘box office crazy’. He’s also full of sage advice for anyone wanting to write a screenplay and explains the differences between the two. Finally, he and Ed settle down to bury the hatchet and iron out their political differences. This is David Hare at the pinnacle of his game, reflecting on a life spent in theatre, television and film – not to be missed.