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South Downs and Mere Fact, Mere Fiction
1962: A public school on the South Downs.
John Blakemore is a solitary boy who finds it impossible either to understand or adapt to the ways of the school. His adolescent earnestness put off teacher and pupil alike. And now suddenly he seems to be in danger of losing his only friend.
David Hare's emotional new play, written at the invitation of the Rattigan estate as a response to The Browning Version, is a meditation on faith, learning and teenage friendship, played against the backdrop of a Britain still fighting to maintain an established rule.
Collected with South Downs is the text of Hare's lecture Mere Fact, Mere Fiction, delivered to the Royal Society of Literature in 2010. In a famous defence of documentary theatre, the author celebrates the power of metaphor to transform factual quite as much as fictional material.
John Blakemore is a solitary boy who finds it impossible either to understand or adapt to the ways of the school. His adolescent earnestness put off teacher and pupil alike. And now suddenly he seems to be in danger of losing his only friend.
David Hare's emotional new play, written at the invitation of the Rattigan estate as a response to The Browning Version, is a meditation on faith, learning and teenage friendship, played against the backdrop of a Britain still fighting to maintain an established rule.
Collected with South Downs is the text of Hare's lecture Mere Fact, Mere Fiction, delivered to the Royal Society of Literature in 2010. In a famous defence of documentary theatre, the author celebrates the power of metaphor to transform factual quite as much as fictional material.
96 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2011
About the author
David Hare
130 books87 followersSir David Hare (born 5 June 1947) is an English playwright, screenwriter and theatre and film director. Most notable for his stage work, Hare has also enjoyed great success with films, receiving two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for writing The Hours in 2002, based on the novel written by Michael Cunningham, and The Reader in 2008, based on the novel of the same name written by Bernhard Schlink.
On West End, he had his greatest success with the plays Plenty, which he adapted into a film starring Meryl Streep in 1985, Racing Demon (1990), Skylight (1997), and Amy's View (1998). The four plays ran on Broadway in 1982–83, 1996, 1998 and 1999 respectively, earning Hare three Tony Award nominations for Best Play for the first three and two Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play. Other notable projects on stage include A Map of the World, Pravda, Murmuring Judges, The Absence of War and The Vertical Hour. He wrote screenplays for the film Wetherby and the BBC drama Page Eight (2011).
As of 2013, Hare has received two Academy Award nominations, three Golden Globe Award nominations, three Tony Award nominations and has won a BAFTA Award, a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and two Laurence Olivier Awards. He has also been awarded several critics' awards such as the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and received the Golden Bear in 1985. He was knighted in 1998.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ha...
On West End, he had his greatest success with the plays Plenty, which he adapted into a film starring Meryl Streep in 1985, Racing Demon (1990), Skylight (1997), and Amy's View (1998). The four plays ran on Broadway in 1982–83, 1996, 1998 and 1999 respectively, earning Hare three Tony Award nominations for Best Play for the first three and two Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play. Other notable projects on stage include A Map of the World, Pravda, Murmuring Judges, The Absence of War and The Vertical Hour. He wrote screenplays for the film Wetherby and the BBC drama Page Eight (2011).
As of 2013, Hare has received two Academy Award nominations, three Golden Globe Award nominations, three Tony Award nominations and has won a BAFTA Award, a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and two Laurence Olivier Awards. He has also been awarded several critics' awards such as the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and received the Golden Bear in 1985. He was knighted in 1998.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ha...
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 18, 2013
FRom BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Drama:
The much acclaimed Chichester Festival production of David Hare's play is brought to radio. Set in the 60s in Lancing College, Sussex, where the author went to school.
A pin sharp young pupil ( an astonishing professional debut from Alex Lawther) is cut off from his fellow boys by virtue of his own intellect, background and questioning spirit.
The school, with its unyielding and rigid outlook on life, leaves the boy isolated and confused. In an unlikely meeting with the free-spirited mother of another pupil (Anna Chancellor) her generosity and sound advice offers the boy a world of kindness and possibility.
The original music was composed by Paul Englishby and the original theatre sound was designed by Ian Dickinson.
The Chichester Festival production of South Downs was first performed at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester.
Directed by Jeremy Herrin
A Catherine Bailey Production for BBC Radio 4.
The much acclaimed Chichester Festival production of David Hare's play is brought to radio. Set in the 60s in Lancing College, Sussex, where the author went to school.
A pin sharp young pupil ( an astonishing professional debut from Alex Lawther) is cut off from his fellow boys by virtue of his own intellect, background and questioning spirit.
The school, with its unyielding and rigid outlook on life, leaves the boy isolated and confused. In an unlikely meeting with the free-spirited mother of another pupil (Anna Chancellor) her generosity and sound advice offers the boy a world of kindness and possibility.
The original music was composed by Paul Englishby and the original theatre sound was designed by Ian Dickinson.
The Chichester Festival production of South Downs was first performed at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester.
Directed by Jeremy Herrin
A Catherine Bailey Production for BBC Radio 4.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 30, 2012
Saturday Drama.blurb - David Hare’s South Downs was a huge hit at the 2011 Chichester Festival where it appeared as a specially commissioned double-bill partner to Rattigan’s The Browning Version before transferring to the West End. Jeremy Herrin now directs the same cast in this radio version.
Set in Lancing College, Hare’s old school, the play follows the trials of young John Blakemore (Alex Lawther), whose mature intelligence alienates him from staff and boys alike (he’s reading Camus). It falls to another boy’s mother, Belinda Duffield (Anna Chancellor), to tackle his unhappiness with tea, sympathy and — a sure way to a boy’s heart — cake.
Goodness but this must of been dreamt up in one of Danté's circles. 'Orrible
April 6, 2013
Hare authentically captures the atmosphere of public school life, with its routine small cruelties among the boys, and awkward and in some case actively malign teachers who seem unable to relate to the adolescents in their care.
In particular he focuses on the highly intelligent 14 year-old, John Blakemore, who is disliked by the other boys and doesn’t care for himself much either. He worries about the hydrogen bomb and comes from a humbler background than most of his contemporaries. We might almost be looking at a portrait of the playwright as a confused teenager.
This is one of the warmest plays Hare has written.
In particular he focuses on the highly intelligent 14 year-old, John Blakemore, who is disliked by the other boys and doesn’t care for himself much either. He worries about the hydrogen bomb and comes from a humbler background than most of his contemporaries. We might almost be looking at a portrait of the playwright as a confused teenager.
This is one of the warmest plays Hare has written.
September 1, 2012
I saw this as part of a double bill alongside the Browning version and it paled in comparison. I believe it was written specifically as a companion piece and I was bored by its cliched characters and poor storyline. Maybe better on the radio?
April 11, 2026
Classic David Hare, meaning brilliant. Though it could have been a bit longer, the play—partly a riff on Rattigan’s BROWNING VERSION—is classically British public school territory, with an early 1960s setting. It almost reminded me also of Bennett’s THE HISTORY BOYS. Wonderful stuff
David Hare, along with Harold Pinter, Rattigan, and Tom Stoppard, are the best British playwrights of the 20th century.
David Hare, along with Harold Pinter, Rattigan, and Tom Stoppard, are the best British playwrights of the 20th century.
December 29, 2023
Hare kan prachtige dialogen schrijven, ook hier. Helaas is dit hoorspel - over het eenzaam lot van een gevoelige en intelligente leerling in een Britse kostschool - geschreven als een reactie op Terrence Rattigans ‘The Browning Version’ te kort uitgewerkt om al wat hij ermee zeggen wil helder te krijgen.
May 26, 2020
5/10 - An interesting play and a thought provoking lecture, but neither feels substantial.
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November 27, 20251.5 stars. A few lovely lines but if there was a point to this play it escaped me.
November 8, 2015
An intriguing and philosophical play with pure kindness at its core. The words may be interpreted in many ways and I am now so disappointed I never saw the production at Chichester Festival Theatre.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews