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The Blue Room
Arthur Schnitzler described Reigen, his loose series of sexual sketches, as "completely unprintable, " and indeed its premiere in 1921 spurred an obscenity suit. It was only when Max Ophuls made his famous film in 1950 that the work became better known as La Ronde. Now David Hare has reset these circular scenes of love and betrayal in the present day, with a cast of two actors playing a succession of characters whose sexual lives enmesh like a daisy chain. The Blue Room is a meditation on men and women, sex and social class, actors and the theater. With deft insight about the gap between the sexes, The Blue Room takes the treacherous Freudian subject of projection and desire and reinvents it in a bittersweet landscape that is both eternal and completely up-to-date.
85 pages, Paperback
First published October 5, 1998
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About the author
David Hare
117 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 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 2, 2019
OMG - it's very possible that this is the worst play I have read in my entire life. Especially when it comes to published ones which received major productions in London and on Broadway.
One would think that an updated version of 'La Ronde' would, at least, have *something* to it. And Hare, of course, is a very talented writer (which explains the very few lines of dialogue that have something resembling a spark).
But it's not that the play is just bad. It's that it's shit. There's something of an exhibitionist sleaze factor throughout - and I'm ok with that! But the writing is astonishingly godawful. It's beyond me how a two-person cast could get through a performance without falling into a confused slumber. This could maybe be the most boring play about sex - ever.
Plays are fun to read on a bus to and from work. I stuck with this to the end because it's short - and because I held out thinking it would fire up at some point. But, nope - it's as lethargic in realization in the opening scene as it is when the curtain finally falls.
One would think that an updated version of 'La Ronde' would, at least, have *something* to it. And Hare, of course, is a very talented writer (which explains the very few lines of dialogue that have something resembling a spark).
But it's not that the play is just bad. It's that it's shit. There's something of an exhibitionist sleaze factor throughout - and I'm ok with that! But the writing is astonishingly godawful. It's beyond me how a two-person cast could get through a performance without falling into a confused slumber. This could maybe be the most boring play about sex - ever.
Plays are fun to read on a bus to and from work. I stuck with this to the end because it's short - and because I held out thinking it would fire up at some point. But, nope - it's as lethargic in realization in the opening scene as it is when the curtain finally falls.
October 18, 2020
Quite lovely - really interesting explorations of sex & lust, particularly I found the scenes of adultery & between the politician & model to be fascinating.
August 24, 2021
Ten two-character plays with one character continuing in the next scene. Interesting conceit. Not always compelling theatre. An interesting lighting/effects cue occurs in each scene that helps lighten these micro-plays and offers perspective and often humor.
This was a big hit when Nicole Kidman was in the Broadway production. I did not see it, but wonder after revisiting it some 20 years later if it would have been anything without her.
I rounded up to three, but it’s more like 2.5.
This was a big hit when Nicole Kidman was in the Broadway production. I did not see it, but wonder after revisiting it some 20 years later if it would have been anything without her.
I rounded up to three, but it’s more like 2.5.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 25, 2021
3.8 stars! i love the circular structure of this play and the small intimate scenes. i also love the casting choices made for the characters. a quick read and a satisfying one for my recent obsession with the color blue.
blue means to be longing and insatiable.
blue means to be longing and insatiable.
July 14, 2021
super fun, 3.5 😎 Sex
October 5, 2022
A really interesting study of power in relationships. Flipping through and seeing interactions motives and changes.
March 22, 2025
A reread of an old fave I hope to act in or direct someday!
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May 5, 2025Good. Not as interesting as I wanted it to be.
August 23, 2025
I like the circular aspect of the characters. A close up of intimate moments with good and bad intentions. Some of the lines were a little brutal to read in a hits-too-close way. Yay!
September 24, 2024
"I’m in the blue room
I’m in the blue
The dream was just a dream
It wasn’t you
Tell me why this lonely feeling hits me
That the person who I wanted wasn’t you."
I’m in the blue
The dream was just a dream
It wasn’t you
Tell me why this lonely feeling hits me
That the person who I wanted wasn’t you."
April 18, 2015
Ten scenes. Ten characters. Ten encounters.
David Hare’s The Blue Room is a quiet, intimate look at sex and relationships. Characters move through scenes, exchanging sexual partners in a dance that captures the fleeting, and mostly hopeless, nature of romance and sexual attraction.
It’s a simple play. There is not much meat there in terms of action or dialogue. And yet, it’s a moving play. It examines how each of us is more than one person; we present different selves when faced with new partners, new encounters. It toys with the idea that love and attraction flash hot and then fade to coolness over time. It teases the sad reality that often sexual desire trumps our need for romance, a construct that is placed before us like an idyllic goal.
Sad. Real. Frustrating. The Blue Room taps into the emotional life we often try our best to hide.
The Blue Room was read as part of the the 2015 Reading Challenge.
Category: A Play
David Hare’s The Blue Room is a quiet, intimate look at sex and relationships. Characters move through scenes, exchanging sexual partners in a dance that captures the fleeting, and mostly hopeless, nature of romance and sexual attraction.
It’s a simple play. There is not much meat there in terms of action or dialogue. And yet, it’s a moving play. It examines how each of us is more than one person; we present different selves when faced with new partners, new encounters. It toys with the idea that love and attraction flash hot and then fade to coolness over time. It teases the sad reality that often sexual desire trumps our need for romance, a construct that is placed before us like an idyllic goal.
Sad. Real. Frustrating. The Blue Room taps into the emotional life we often try our best to hide.
The Blue Room was read as part of the the 2015 Reading Challenge.
Category: A Play
January 30, 2009
I've read "La Ronde" ... and I wanted to see what David Hare's translation/interpretation of this text was like. Interesting that Nicole Kidman played the woman in the NY production.
I liked the structure -- and the question of whether it is performed with 1M/1W or 5M/5W. I like the language of the characters and would use it in class...except for the sex. Yeah.
I liked the structure -- and the question of whether it is performed with 1M/1W or 5M/5W. I like the language of the characters and would use it in class...except for the sex. Yeah.
October 23, 2012
David Hare's an excellent playwrite and I've enjoyed his version of La Ronde. I've been asked to direct this for a local theatre company, and it might be interesting to do. One Man, One Woman in 10 different scenes. Just can't imagine how to do it....
December 20, 2007
Interesting concept, but it's enough already.
June 8, 2012
I have to direct this: lovely, nuanced, provocative, passionate, beautiful, smart.
December 2, 2015
This would be interesting to see preformed. Fast moving and no suffering in it. What or how would they do this?
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews