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The History Plays #1
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"David Hare's latest play – his wittiest and most assured yet – combines surrealism and satire in a breathlessly fast-moving plot when Curly Delafield, mercenary soldier and gun-runner, eturns to Guildford to find out what has happened to his sister Sarah…
"Michael Billington said of the play in the Guardian "It's the kind of play I welcome on the West End stage: an attempt to use a pop format, in this case the hard-edged Mickey Spillane thriller, as a vehicle for moral comment … the play is consistently entertaining and, with pleasing irony, uses a commercial stage to atack the degradation of the profit motive."
"The play first opened at the Comedy Theatre, London on 4 March 1974 with Edward Fox in the leading role." – from the inside front cover
"Michael Billington said of the play in the Guardian "It's the kind of play I welcome on the West End stage: an attempt to use a pop format, in this case the hard-edged Mickey Spillane thriller, as a vehicle for moral comment … the play is consistently entertaining and, with pleasing irony, uses a commercial stage to atack the degradation of the profit motive."
"The play first opened at the Comedy Theatre, London on 4 March 1974 with Edward Fox in the leading role." – from the inside front cover
- GenresPlays
80 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
22 people want to read
About the author
David Hare
118 books84 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 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 12, 2021
I didn’t see the point of this 1973 play in which an arms dealer, Curly Delafield, returns home to Guildford to stay, for as short a time as possible, with his merchant banker father, Patrick, because he wants to find out whether his sister, Sarah, is dead. Has she been murdered? Did she commit suicide? Or has she simply disappeared?
And I felt, so what?
I think the play needs to be seen. It’s a seedy world it presents, involving a night club, and a lot of shady dealings. The play makes the point that the world of the arms dealer and the world of the merchant banker, even in respectable leafy Surrey, are not that different, both being morally corrupt.
What I found hard simply reading the piece is that the dialogue is often indirect, tangential, circumspect, full of the implied and the understated. I’m not very good at reading the subtext. A performance might be more revealing.
So the fact that I didn’t see the point is probably my problem, rather than the play’s.
And I felt, so what?
I think the play needs to be seen. It’s a seedy world it presents, involving a night club, and a lot of shady dealings. The play makes the point that the world of the arms dealer and the world of the merchant banker, even in respectable leafy Surrey, are not that different, both being morally corrupt.
What I found hard simply reading the piece is that the dialogue is often indirect, tangential, circumspect, full of the implied and the understated. I’m not very good at reading the subtext. A performance might be more revealing.
So the fact that I didn’t see the point is probably my problem, rather than the play’s.
June 28, 2020
Role I want to play: Curly
An Arms Dealer returns to his hometown in England to investigate the possible murder of his sister, only to find everyone from his father the City of London Banker to his sisters narcissistic Communist boyfriend Max insisting that she's dead and the case should be left to wallow in the hands of the police.
A cynical nasty look at the intersection between modern politics, finances and morality. Knuckle is worth a read for all thriller lovers, and has made it's way to the top of plays I absolutely must perform in before I die.
An Arms Dealer returns to his hometown in England to investigate the possible murder of his sister, only to find everyone from his father the City of London Banker to his sisters narcissistic Communist boyfriend Max insisting that she's dead and the case should be left to wallow in the hands of the police.
A cynical nasty look at the intersection between modern politics, finances and morality. Knuckle is worth a read for all thriller lovers, and has made it's way to the top of plays I absolutely must perform in before I die.
October 7, 2018
A thoroughly unsatisfying and at times misogynistic play! David Hare, you could do better.
My Rating - 2/5
My Rating - 2/5
May 3, 2021
Oh yes. Can't get enough of David Hare.
January 11, 2024
I enjoyed it, very clearly written in the 70's (with its presentation of women). A good, short read
April 7, 2025
Murder mystery
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews