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Skylight
Skylight premiered at the National Theatre in 1995 and then went on to become one of the most internationally successful plays of recent years. This is the definitive edition of Skylight .
96 pages, Paperback
First published July 13, 1995
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758 people want to read
About the author
David Hare
116 books85 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 - 30 of 88 reviews
June 22, 2019
(4.5) Might need to have a long think about this one...brilliantly done.
(An initial thought is: it’s too inevitably rousing to fail; all of theatreland was always going to love this; it’s preaching to the converted. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a brilliant chamber piece.)
(An initial thought is: it’s too inevitably rousing to fail; all of theatreland was always going to love this; it’s preaching to the converted. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a brilliant chamber piece.)
August 31, 2016
After I saw this performed by Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy (streamed in the movie theaters), I knew I needed to read this play because the script was absolutely fantastic! Over the course of the play, Kyra and Tom go from bluffing about their lives and their pasts to being forced to confront the truth by each other. All the clues and hints at the truth are buried in the dialogue, which neither of them fail to pick up on. This play tackles such topics like, grief, cancer, class struggles, generation gaps and love. It's so spot on and clever - truly brilliant.
March 20, 2022
خیلی شروع خوبی داشت تا وسطهاش، بعد اینقدر لوس شد که میگفتم چرا دارم اینو میخونم؟ یه مشکلی که نمایشنامهها (نه همهشون) دارن، اینه که برای پرهیز از زیادی تکنیکی شدن و اینکه خیلی وقتها هر نوع مخاطبی تقریباً بتونه خوشش بیاد، در قسمتهایی پر از دیالوگهای بیسروته مثل پرش افکار میشه. آره توی زندگی عادی هم این اتفاق میافته، ولی اینجا اینقدر زیاد بود که دیگه واقعی نبود! من قشنگ اینطوری شدم که خب باشه این فقط از نمایش برمیاد!
و ترجمه فکر کنم جزو اولین ترجمههای ایشون بوده، چون بسیار خامدستانه بود. چیز بیشتری یادم نمیاد.
August 23, 2014
If you're considering reading a David Hare play and don't know what title to start with, allow me to recommend "Skylight". If you find the pace tedious and the slow revelation boring then you likely won't appreciate any of his other works. But if you find the subtle exploration of how a younger woman can have been a friend to a dying woman, a lover to her husband and now a surrogate older sister to that man's child, then you will become a fan of Hare's tenderness and humor.
C
C
August 7, 2015
Like Ian McEwan's 'Atonement', there is a strong, almost Grecian sense of fate in 'Skylight'; the discovery of a love letter, an affair exposed, the mistress gone and the wife's tragic death from cancer. A stony father and an orphaned son. Three years after these events, in the afternoon, the evening and then the morning, the ex-mistress, Kyra Hollis, is visited by both the father, Tom Sergeant, and the son, Edward Sergeant, both of whom are seeking help.
'Skylight' is slightly fantastical against its very real, very rough, north-west London setting in that Kyra and Tom are allowed a sense of reconciliation about their relationship, their ideas and their respective lifestyles. They battle it out, like Albee's George and Martha, taking up society's forgotten, central heating and capitalism as ammo, as they try to cut through all of the distortions of reality that have swollen in the wake of Alice's death in search of the truth. While Susanna Clapp, for one, has argued that Hare is 'too schematic' in the way that he overtly uses the characters of Kyra and Tom to symbolise 'the two faces of the Britain scarred by Margaret Thatcher'; I would argue that their intellectual ferocity is perfectly balanced by humour and genuine affection. As much as Kyra and Tom want to 'have it out' and garner a proper answer from all the chaos that surrounds them, in equal measure, they want to come together and have a good time.
Indeed, I love the way in which Hare both starts and ends 'Skylight' with Kyra receiving a visit from Edward. At once breezy and fluent, and loving and open; their two dialogues seem to give the audience a welcome confirmation of the power of love to heal after their family unit has been torn asunder. By ending the play in this way, he shows us that differences aside, there are always new beginnings.
'Skylight' is slightly fantastical against its very real, very rough, north-west London setting in that Kyra and Tom are allowed a sense of reconciliation about their relationship, their ideas and their respective lifestyles. They battle it out, like Albee's George and Martha, taking up society's forgotten, central heating and capitalism as ammo, as they try to cut through all of the distortions of reality that have swollen in the wake of Alice's death in search of the truth. While Susanna Clapp, for one, has argued that Hare is 'too schematic' in the way that he overtly uses the characters of Kyra and Tom to symbolise 'the two faces of the Britain scarred by Margaret Thatcher'; I would argue that their intellectual ferocity is perfectly balanced by humour and genuine affection. As much as Kyra and Tom want to 'have it out' and garner a proper answer from all the chaos that surrounds them, in equal measure, they want to come together and have a good time.
Indeed, I love the way in which Hare both starts and ends 'Skylight' with Kyra receiving a visit from Edward. At once breezy and fluent, and loving and open; their two dialogues seem to give the audience a welcome confirmation of the power of love to heal after their family unit has been torn asunder. By ending the play in this way, he shows us that differences aside, there are always new beginnings.
July 19, 2016
This is Kyra's play; she is the only character of the three who is on stage for the entire play and she is the hub, the center, the core of the narrative arc--it all passes through her--both father and also son. She also controls the ending. Her words seal the closure of the play; thus, when the lights come up, her words (even if sotto voce) resonate the hall.
For Tom, the father, playwright Hare treats as the dinosaur, the Old Guard, the last of the exploiters. His capitalism, his greed, his consumption signify the criminal class of our age--his megalomania, his intelligence, his venality act as his signature. For traditional stagecraft, his arc indicates the villain. If he portrays his lines well, compassion will leak out of his words, but he is still our villain.
And then Edward, good luck, Edward. With a father as distant as the moon and a deceased mother, he is trying to fill the void with what he thinks he should. He is young and his mistakes are still ahead for him.
I believe this is drama as it should be. Played out on stage, the stories that comprise the play create a symphony of discordance that will show us as we live. Its rawness when spoken and enacted sear.
For Tom, the father, playwright Hare treats as the dinosaur, the Old Guard, the last of the exploiters. His capitalism, his greed, his consumption signify the criminal class of our age--his megalomania, his intelligence, his venality act as his signature. For traditional stagecraft, his arc indicates the villain. If he portrays his lines well, compassion will leak out of his words, but he is still our villain.
And then Edward, good luck, Edward. With a father as distant as the moon and a deceased mother, he is trying to fill the void with what he thinks he should. He is young and his mistakes are still ahead for him.
I believe this is drama as it should be. Played out on stage, the stories that comprise the play create a symphony of discordance that will show us as we live. Its rawness when spoken and enacted sear.
April 9, 2018
I am a huge fan of Carey Mulligan's, especially her work in Collateral, another work of David Hare's. I recently came across Skylight, the play she did with Bill Nighy. From the clips I saw, I loved the performances and the writing.
Because I saw Collateral, a four episode procedural with Mulligan's character investigating the death of a pizza delivery man, I knew that Hare's Skylight was going to be more than former lovers reunited for the first time after six years.
I was right. Skylight is about Tom, an older businessman and Kyra, a inner school teacher, meeting again after a six year separation. There's a lot of history between those two as Kyra was Tom's former mistress. Tom's wife has recently died from cancer.
I enjoyed Skylight. I like Hare's writing. It's never straightforward. There are always political or socioeconomic issues just beneath the surface. Skylight was about guilt, grief, love, complacency, and class.
However, Hare doesn't bombard the reader by shoving it their faces. He never gets out the soapbox to stand on. It happens organically in Skylight, using Tom and Kyra as his instruments. These characters start off very superficially, telling each other the stock answers of their lives. As the play progresses, all pretenses are dropped and they are stripped raw.
My only want is that I wish I could have seen the play.
Because I saw Collateral, a four episode procedural with Mulligan's character investigating the death of a pizza delivery man, I knew that Hare's Skylight was going to be more than former lovers reunited for the first time after six years.
I was right. Skylight is about Tom, an older businessman and Kyra, a inner school teacher, meeting again after a six year separation. There's a lot of history between those two as Kyra was Tom's former mistress. Tom's wife has recently died from cancer.
I enjoyed Skylight. I like Hare's writing. It's never straightforward. There are always political or socioeconomic issues just beneath the surface. Skylight was about guilt, grief, love, complacency, and class.
However, Hare doesn't bombard the reader by shoving it their faces. He never gets out the soapbox to stand on. It happens organically in Skylight, using Tom and Kyra as his instruments. These characters start off very superficially, telling each other the stock answers of their lives. As the play progresses, all pretenses are dropped and they are stripped raw.
My only want is that I wish I could have seen the play.
July 8, 2015
In the play, Skylight, Tom Sergeant and Kyra Hollis are estranged lovers who are thrashing things out after a separation of several years. Kyra left Tom when his wife, Alice, found out about the affair. Prior to that revelation, Kyra had been close with Tom and Alice and with their children. During the years of Tom and Kyra's separation, Alice became ill with - and died from - cancer. At the play's opening, Alice has been dead for a year.
I saw this play performed on Broadway and wanted to read it to answer the question, why did the author name the play Skylight? When Alice first became ill, Tom built her an expensive new home and installed a skylight in her bedroom. I think he was trying to give her something pleasant to look at, to swap out the image surely burned into her brain of Tom and Kyra together. But what about Tom and Kyra? Did they likewise need to open the ceiling to the heavens in order to shed light on their relationship as they considered getting back together or staying apart? That would be tidy except that the play is unclear at the end as to the fate of their couple-hood. So what does that title mean? Hmmmmm...I still don't know!
I saw this play performed on Broadway and wanted to read it to answer the question, why did the author name the play Skylight? When Alice first became ill, Tom built her an expensive new home and installed a skylight in her bedroom. I think he was trying to give her something pleasant to look at, to swap out the image surely burned into her brain of Tom and Kyra together. But what about Tom and Kyra? Did they likewise need to open the ceiling to the heavens in order to shed light on their relationship as they considered getting back together or staying apart? That would be tidy except that the play is unclear at the end as to the fate of their couple-hood. So what does that title mean? Hmmmmm...I still don't know!
July 26, 2016
Nothing could be more difficult than elaborating on the very complex human emotions and relationships. A complexity which masterfully has been put to the words in this intense, breathtaking and powerful play.
December 13, 2016
من این کتاب رو دوست نداشتم
فکر میکنم قهرمان داستان
کایرا
با اینکه در یک خیانت شرکت کرده
اما نویسنده میخواد بگه که انتخابهای درستی داشته و موضع قهرمان بی گناه رو بهش میده
به نظرم!
فکر میکنم قهرمان داستان
کایرا
با اینکه در یک خیانت شرکت کرده
اما نویسنده میخواد بگه که انتخابهای درستی داشته و موضع قهرمان بی گناه رو بهش میده
به نظرم!
May 23, 2024
Een schitterende theatertekst over de liefde, het uiteenvallen van een passionele liefde door het leven, door de tijd, de keuzes die je maakt.
Zowel hogelijk grappig als ontroerend.
Genuanceerd, wijs en onwijs eerlijk.
Zowel hogelijk grappig als ontroerend.
Genuanceerd, wijs en onwijs eerlijk.
January 13, 2020
Almost forgot how brilliant this play is. Wish I could see the 2014 adaptation again...
June 10, 2023
3.5 stars
December 29, 2021
Some people think plays, books, films, TV programmes, etc, should be Relevant. That they should comment on or contribute to the big questions of the day. That Climate Change, for instance, should be a constant subject for TV drama. I’m not convinced. I’m not saying it is wrong, but too often the Big Questions will feel imposed on the narrative and characters, the Big Themes will feel a little obvious and heavy handed. David Hare has a tendency towards Relevance. There is his trilogy from the early 1990s tackling the British Establishment (Church, Law, Politics); in the 1980s, with Howard Brenton, he tackled the new aggressive press; since then he has tackled the War on Terrorism. Hare tackles Big Subjects. If Skylight is my favourite of his plays it is because it is his smallest. Yes, it does drag in a Big Issue, but it seems to reflect the characters or come out of their experiences, rather than the characters being designed to reflect the big theme. A chamber play, there are only three characters, the play being a series of duets. The central character, who is in all four scenes, is Kyra Hollis. In the first and last scenes she is first visited by Edward Sergeant, but the bulk of the play, the long second scene of the first act and the long first scene of the second act, is Kyra and Tom Sergeant, Edward’s father. Their past story emerges. He is a restaurateur and she once worked for him and lived at his family home; at some point Kyra and Tom began an affair, but she left when Tom’s wife found out about it. Edward arrives as though he just dropped by; he tells Kyra that his mother has died and it becomes obvious that his visit has a purpose, to find out why she left and express his resentment about losing his older ‘sister’. Later the same evening Tom arrives. There are two series of long discussions, through the evening and the following morning. They talk of the past, of why she left, and so on. There is manoeuvring and they respond to each other as old lovers, moving between squabbling, sniping, intimacy and tenderness. I suppose we can call all this character study, but Hare does bring in his Big Issue. Tom is successful and wealthy, Kyra now teaches at an East End of London school – her work is tough, the play takes place in her small, basic and cold flat. There is a conflict of values, Kyra speaking of the importance of working with largely poor or deprived children, of a social purpose, Tom is largely contemptuous, thinking she is wasting her life. As I said, on the whole, these discussions come out of the characters, part of the play’s purpose as ‘character study’, but there are times when it becomes a discussion of ideas…maybe there is nothing wrong with this, maybe I have an unfair prejudice against Dramas of Ideas, but characters discussing disembodied ideas can feel a little preachy or heavy handed. It is the final scene that I find unsatisfactory...or, at least, I'm not sure what it is doing. It seems to be an attempt to lighten the mood after the intensity of the previous scenes, but I don't quite see the purpose of that.
August 18, 2025
One of the four faber plays I got in Oxford. Thought I hadn't read one in a minute and missed it - and dare I say I wasn't wrong. Reading a play might be one of my greatest pleasures, reading aloud even more so. There's such joy in reading in between the lines - what will come to be my life's work. It's nice to do it for leisure.
Skylight poked me out of nowhere when I was close to dismissing it, and was eerily close to home and a conversation I had in Sicily, with a random guy on a random night.
I really liked Kyra and Tom's relationship -layered with a rich history and opposing value systems. Kyra's explanation for leaving is interesting: "You have something worked out in your mind. Then something changes. The balance is gone. You no longer believe your own story. And that, I'm afraid, is the moment to leave". Their back and forth is excellent, with Kyra calling him out "I'm standing here, nodding, smiling, agreeing like some ape and thinking is this man lying to me deliberately? Or does he not even notice? Or is he so used to lying to himself?" which reminded me of how life-taking arguments are with the one you love. I remember fighting with Karina and it taking an entire day at times, so many complex feelings and situations at play - that I wondered how people go to work the next day, functioning well. Another facet of their relationship is how much guilt is the recurring sentiment attached to both, to a certain degree. Something I miss about being in a relationship so having someone to affront you, constantly, you can't escape yourself as much - but then on the other side, and what this guy was saying, was how you always have to explain yourself, to be understood. "Your whole fucking life is an act of denial! You're running so fast you don't even know you're in flight"... now that's something. Truly the best back and forth I've ever read in a play. "With energy comes restlessness and I can't live that way", imagine a relationship not working out because someone is always in a state of yearning, the other can't fathom or nurture or accept. That's quite specific.
Kyra's description of going to work, one hour away on a bus with a good book, put forth to mind the idea that perhaps being one hour away isn't so bad. And will help me keep up with reading which I know can easily take a cut once training starts. Her passion for listening is akin to that developed for an actor: "it's an addiction". I can feel my sight refining itself, a bit more than auditory but I want all of my senses to be purposefully and, one day, subconsciously used to their highest abilities. I really flagged in Sicily, when I could just feel so much joy from seeing one specific thing. Life as art.
Kyra's situation of "living in a dream" is akin to mine. And her calling out Tom for "losing all sense of reality" since "this is how everyone lives" is reminiscent of my dad's views. "It wasn't until I left that warm bubble of good taste and money in which you exist ... it was only then I remembered most people live in a way which is altogether different" - my living in a host family or moving to Hackney. Now this one from Tom hit me "you're the only person who has fought so hard to get into it, when everyone else is desperate to get out!" I do feel that when working at the bagel place. "You must punish yourself further by living in another dreadful place. And spend the whole day commuting between them" makes me wonder if I'm only making my life harder by staying in Hackney. "And what's more listening to the people on the journey, mopping up their every remark. As if they were Socrates, Einstein, just because they happen to travel by bus... Remember I come from bog-ordinary people, me. If you start out ordinary, I promise you, one thing you're spared, this sentimental illusion that ordinary people can teach you anything at all". I wonder if that's true, I don't think so but I very much am romantic about the working-middle class for some reason, perhaps because both my parents were. "I've not set off like some fucking missionary to conduct some experiment in finding out just how tough I can make my own way of life" - sometimes I wonder, although some things are out of my control, if being gay, a woman who's also a feminist, an actress, an artist is not just another way to make it harder. I'm looking back at those working days, doing dishes, serving coffee, cleaning tables, wrapping bagels is a sense of pride as putting myself in the literal dirt of oils and bacon. This reminded of my dad, and perhaps a good reminder of what he thinks: "I can't see anything more tragic, more stupid than you sitting here and throwing your talents away" and indeed I am using my talent, just in a way he doesn't approve. Also her take on businessman is good: "the whole society must get down on their knees, and thank them, because they do something they no longer call "making money".."we all have to say it's an intrinsically worthy activity". "People who often have nothing at all ... they have one great virtue: they have no illusions that they must once have done something right! Nor do they suffer from delicate feelings. They're getting on with the day-to-day struggle of trying to survive on the street". Tom reminds me of my dad "There's plenty of injustice. The question is why you've gone out to look for it".
It's crazy how this one guy told me that in a couple years, he'll give me a million euros and my cousins just to get me. Rightly so, although I took a polite loop to get there, I explained to him that I am not something you buy just as Tom's girls said "I'm not a thing, don't you see? You can't buy me. Whatever you give me, I can' ever be bought." Insane alignment in that Tom argued "I give for the pleasure of giving. Just for the pleasure itself" which was his argument too. Perhaps I'll send it to him - you just can't look at it in a vacuum. As my dad explained, power is one of the main ways to look at a relationship. "She always thought if I was giving, then somehow I must want something back". One leads to the other, it's just like that question give or take - how can you ever separate them. You give to take, you take to give or not - he wants to give with no take? Does a man ever do that?
A couple of phrases that stuck:
"Once they're dead, I find they keep changing. You think you've got hold of them... But they they change again in your memory. It drives you crazy."
"For everything you repress there's a price to be paid"
"If you want to be happy, keep your judgment professional"
"You're missing what's happening. You're missing reality (not reading newspaper0"
"I said, perhaps it's true, perhaps I'm not brilliantly contemplative, perhaps I do not stop like some Oxford smartase philosopher to ask myself the purpose of it all."
"People us it (spiritual) to prove they're sensitive. They want it to dignify quite ordinary things".
"That's how most people die. They die in that state. Not knowing. Half knowing, Surely that's what you'd expect"
"But even you must see the balance of sympathy in this case ... just maybe lies somewhere else"
"It's built on a negative. It's built on escape"
"I lived a long time next to cancer. Apart form anything, it fucks up your brain. You start thinking things are deliberate. That everything's some kind of judgement. And once you think that, you might as well die".
"There's only one thing that makes the whole thing make sense, and that is finding one really good pupil".
Skylight poked me out of nowhere when I was close to dismissing it, and was eerily close to home and a conversation I had in Sicily, with a random guy on a random night.
I really liked Kyra and Tom's relationship -layered with a rich history and opposing value systems. Kyra's explanation for leaving is interesting: "You have something worked out in your mind. Then something changes. The balance is gone. You no longer believe your own story. And that, I'm afraid, is the moment to leave". Their back and forth is excellent, with Kyra calling him out "I'm standing here, nodding, smiling, agreeing like some ape and thinking is this man lying to me deliberately? Or does he not even notice? Or is he so used to lying to himself?" which reminded me of how life-taking arguments are with the one you love. I remember fighting with Karina and it taking an entire day at times, so many complex feelings and situations at play - that I wondered how people go to work the next day, functioning well. Another facet of their relationship is how much guilt is the recurring sentiment attached to both, to a certain degree. Something I miss about being in a relationship so having someone to affront you, constantly, you can't escape yourself as much - but then on the other side, and what this guy was saying, was how you always have to explain yourself, to be understood. "Your whole fucking life is an act of denial! You're running so fast you don't even know you're in flight"... now that's something. Truly the best back and forth I've ever read in a play. "With energy comes restlessness and I can't live that way", imagine a relationship not working out because someone is always in a state of yearning, the other can't fathom or nurture or accept. That's quite specific.
Kyra's description of going to work, one hour away on a bus with a good book, put forth to mind the idea that perhaps being one hour away isn't so bad. And will help me keep up with reading which I know can easily take a cut once training starts. Her passion for listening is akin to that developed for an actor: "it's an addiction". I can feel my sight refining itself, a bit more than auditory but I want all of my senses to be purposefully and, one day, subconsciously used to their highest abilities. I really flagged in Sicily, when I could just feel so much joy from seeing one specific thing. Life as art.
Kyra's situation of "living in a dream" is akin to mine. And her calling out Tom for "losing all sense of reality" since "this is how everyone lives" is reminiscent of my dad's views. "It wasn't until I left that warm bubble of good taste and money in which you exist ... it was only then I remembered most people live in a way which is altogether different" - my living in a host family or moving to Hackney. Now this one from Tom hit me "you're the only person who has fought so hard to get into it, when everyone else is desperate to get out!" I do feel that when working at the bagel place. "You must punish yourself further by living in another dreadful place. And spend the whole day commuting between them" makes me wonder if I'm only making my life harder by staying in Hackney. "And what's more listening to the people on the journey, mopping up their every remark. As if they were Socrates, Einstein, just because they happen to travel by bus... Remember I come from bog-ordinary people, me. If you start out ordinary, I promise you, one thing you're spared, this sentimental illusion that ordinary people can teach you anything at all". I wonder if that's true, I don't think so but I very much am romantic about the working-middle class for some reason, perhaps because both my parents were. "I've not set off like some fucking missionary to conduct some experiment in finding out just how tough I can make my own way of life" - sometimes I wonder, although some things are out of my control, if being gay, a woman who's also a feminist, an actress, an artist is not just another way to make it harder. I'm looking back at those working days, doing dishes, serving coffee, cleaning tables, wrapping bagels is a sense of pride as putting myself in the literal dirt of oils and bacon. This reminded of my dad, and perhaps a good reminder of what he thinks: "I can't see anything more tragic, more stupid than you sitting here and throwing your talents away" and indeed I am using my talent, just in a way he doesn't approve. Also her take on businessman is good: "the whole society must get down on their knees, and thank them, because they do something they no longer call "making money".."we all have to say it's an intrinsically worthy activity". "People who often have nothing at all ... they have one great virtue: they have no illusions that they must once have done something right! Nor do they suffer from delicate feelings. They're getting on with the day-to-day struggle of trying to survive on the street". Tom reminds me of my dad "There's plenty of injustice. The question is why you've gone out to look for it".
It's crazy how this one guy told me that in a couple years, he'll give me a million euros and my cousins just to get me. Rightly so, although I took a polite loop to get there, I explained to him that I am not something you buy just as Tom's girls said "I'm not a thing, don't you see? You can't buy me. Whatever you give me, I can' ever be bought." Insane alignment in that Tom argued "I give for the pleasure of giving. Just for the pleasure itself" which was his argument too. Perhaps I'll send it to him - you just can't look at it in a vacuum. As my dad explained, power is one of the main ways to look at a relationship. "She always thought if I was giving, then somehow I must want something back". One leads to the other, it's just like that question give or take - how can you ever separate them. You give to take, you take to give or not - he wants to give with no take? Does a man ever do that?
A couple of phrases that stuck:
"Once they're dead, I find they keep changing. You think you've got hold of them... But they they change again in your memory. It drives you crazy."
"For everything you repress there's a price to be paid"
"If you want to be happy, keep your judgment professional"
"You're missing what's happening. You're missing reality (not reading newspaper0"
"I said, perhaps it's true, perhaps I'm not brilliantly contemplative, perhaps I do not stop like some Oxford smartase philosopher to ask myself the purpose of it all."
"People us it (spiritual) to prove they're sensitive. They want it to dignify quite ordinary things".
"That's how most people die. They die in that state. Not knowing. Half knowing, Surely that's what you'd expect"
"But even you must see the balance of sympathy in this case ... just maybe lies somewhere else"
"It's built on a negative. It's built on escape"
"I lived a long time next to cancer. Apart form anything, it fucks up your brain. You start thinking things are deliberate. That everything's some kind of judgement. And once you think that, you might as well die".
"There's only one thing that makes the whole thing make sense, and that is finding one really good pupil".
March 22, 2018
KYRA: No, this is interesting, this is the heart of it. It wasn't until I left your restaurants... those carpaccio-and-ricotta-stuffed restaurants of yours... it wasn't till I deserted that Chelsea milieu...
TOM: Which in my memory you liked pretty well...
KYRA: I do like it, yes, that isn't something I'd ever deny... but it wasn't until I got out of your limousines... until I left that warm bubble of good taste and money in which you exist...
TOM: Thank you.
KYRA: It was only then I remembered most people live in a way which is altogether different.
TOM: Well, of course.
KYRA: And you have no right to look down on that life!
TOM: You're right.
KYRA: Thank you.
TOM: Of course, that's right. However. In one thing you're different. I do have to say to you, Kyra, in one thing you're different from everyone else in this part of town.
KYRA: How is that?
TOM: You're the only person who has fought so hard to get into it, when everyone else is desperate to get out!
TOM: Which in my memory you liked pretty well...
KYRA: I do like it, yes, that isn't something I'd ever deny... but it wasn't until I got out of your limousines... until I left that warm bubble of good taste and money in which you exist...
TOM: Thank you.
KYRA: It was only then I remembered most people live in a way which is altogether different.
TOM: Well, of course.
KYRA: And you have no right to look down on that life!
TOM: You're right.
KYRA: Thank you.
TOM: Of course, that's right. However. In one thing you're different. I do have to say to you, Kyra, in one thing you're different from everyone else in this part of town.
KYRA: How is that?
TOM: You're the only person who has fought so hard to get into it, when everyone else is desperate to get out!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2016
This is an extraordinary play, and one of the most believable I've ever read. The dialogue captured my attention the whole way through, remarkably witty yet, again, intensely real. It shows how people are just people, nobody's motives are entirely good or bad, and that they are just doing the best with what they have. I find my empathy for each character constantly going back and forth throughout the play, at the end it became such a jumbled confused messed that it made me cry. And I consider a play that can make you cry just by reading and not having to see, a good one.
June 9, 2012
"You give them an environment where they feel they can grow. But also make bloody sure you challenge them. You make sure they realise learning is hard. Because if you don’t, if you only make it a safe haven, if it’s all clap-happy, and ‘everything the kids do is great’, then what are you creating? Emotional toffees, who’ve actually learnt nothing, but who then have to go back and face the real world … Find that balance, it stretches you, it stretches you as far as you’ll go."
September 14, 2014
I saw this play with Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan last week, not at the theatre but on film.It made a powerful impact on me, and I wanted to revisit some of the speeches; so I downloaded it and read it all the way through. I recommend doing this when taken with a play. I've done it once or twice before, usually with Shakespeare.
September 15, 2016
I read this play about 20 years ago. At that time I was not very much impressed, owing to my personal ignorance as well as my poor imagination. Recently, because of its revival (National Theatre Live is touring to Taipei), I turned the pages again and found I couldn't put it down. Isn't it amazing that all the problems Mr. Hare saw when he penned this work haven't changed a bit these days?
December 3, 2020
If you like reading plays, I would definitely recommend this one; the dialogue flows naturally, the characters seem like real people, the plot is interesting. There’s an authenticity to Kyra and Tom’s arguments—neither are wrong, both are right, both are flawed, both are hurt—they are at an impasse. Their coming to terms with this is what we get to witness.
That being said, there were a couple of things that almost made me go for a 3 star rating... Firstly, I thought the ending was a little unresolved and rushed. And oddly, my main criticism is about the stage directions: they are copious, bordering on micromanaging. It seemed as though Mr. Hare was using stage directions to play the role of not only writer, but also actor and director. Maybe the stage directions were transcribed from the original production of the play, but I doubt that’s true for all of them. In the event that I’m wrong about the directions being a product of the playwright, I went with a four star rating. I also recognize that stage directions help convey a writer’s intent, and in a way, they were helpful to me as a reader. However, a great play combines the efforts of not only a good writer, but also the decisions of a director and the actors. So, I felt annoyance on behalf of these latter contributors when in almost every line, we’re told exactly how the characters are moving and feeling. I didn’t have to (get to?) use my imagination at all when reading this because I was told exactly how things were supposed to be.
That being said, there were a couple of things that almost made me go for a 3 star rating... Firstly, I thought the ending was a little unresolved and rushed. And oddly, my main criticism is about the stage directions: they are copious, bordering on micromanaging. It seemed as though Mr. Hare was using stage directions to play the role of not only writer, but also actor and director. Maybe the stage directions were transcribed from the original production of the play, but I doubt that’s true for all of them. In the event that I’m wrong about the directions being a product of the playwright, I went with a four star rating. I also recognize that stage directions help convey a writer’s intent, and in a way, they were helpful to me as a reader. However, a great play combines the efforts of not only a good writer, but also the decisions of a director and the actors. So, I felt annoyance on behalf of these latter contributors when in almost every line, we’re told exactly how the characters are moving and feeling. I didn’t have to (get to?) use my imagination at all when reading this because I was told exactly how things were supposed to be.
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September 20, 2021I carry an immense love for David Hare's script for "Skylight" .. and I couldn't feel satisfied with the amount of my admiration for it. And somehow I'm still not satisfied.
Skylight is a bit of sin, a bit of hate, a bit of wrong, a bit of bitterness and sweetness... a bit of love. It was fascinating to me, like a sigh you do for that relief when you see the sky is so beautiful in the morning.
The inherent wrongness of the people in it .. the shame of normal people that we could laugh with, cry with. Despise them, hate and love them, judging and understanding them. This isn't the kind of story that I would normally like, at all .. the uneasiness just hurt my throat, and that is the brilliancy of it, to me. It triggered a lot in me .. redeeming and moving on.
And as a play? It was absolutely fun, sad, silly, cold and cozy.
The Skylight was like a frame to look upon two shattered lives .. just two lives that simply lived.
Skylight is a bit of sin, a bit of hate, a bit of wrong, a bit of bitterness and sweetness... a bit of love. It was fascinating to me, like a sigh you do for that relief when you see the sky is so beautiful in the morning.
The inherent wrongness of the people in it .. the shame of normal people that we could laugh with, cry with. Despise them, hate and love them, judging and understanding them. This isn't the kind of story that I would normally like, at all .. the uneasiness just hurt my throat, and that is the brilliancy of it, to me. It triggered a lot in me .. redeeming and moving on.
And as a play? It was absolutely fun, sad, silly, cold and cozy.
The Skylight was like a frame to look upon two shattered lives .. just two lives that simply lived.
June 29, 2022
This play so perfectly encapsulates human nature and flaws, and it deals with such huge topics like grief, love, death, family. I would love to see this performed some day because I feel it has such power as a play, and has such a great roles for an actor/actress to take on and interpret. It almost had me in tears at parts, due to the dialogue being so damn provoking and emotional. Two people, finally being honest with each other after a relationship built on deceit. And this play didn't really have a hero; it was very simply two flawed people, good people who have done bad things. And do they deserve to be blamed for these things? And what really is the nature of forgiveness and did Tom deserve to be forgived? Argh, it just provokes such deep questions, but in such a simple manner.
I would definitely recommend, especially to English and Drama nerds like me :)
I would definitely recommend, especially to English and Drama nerds like me :)
November 30, 2018
Ο Τομ είναι ένας πετυχημένος επιχειρηματίας στα πενήντα του. Η Κίρα μια δασκάλα στα τριάντα της. Αυτός πιστεύει στα καλά του καπιταλισμού και στην ιδέα ότι οι έξυπνοι και οι καλοί θα ξεχωρίσουν και θα έχουν ευκαιρίες ανέλιξης. Αυτή πιστεύει στην κοινωνική ισότητα και προσπαθεί να βοηθήσει τους πιο αδύναμους να βρουν καλύτερες ευκαιρίες. Τι τους συνδέει; Έξι χρόνια παράνομου δεσμού, αφού ο Τομ ήταν παντρεμένος. Τώρα πλέον η γυναίκα του έχει πεθάνει και είναι η ευκαιρία τους να ξαναβρεθούν και να επανασυνδεθούν. Οι διαφορές όμως στις κοσμοθεωρίες τους είναι τεράστιες και η μία διαφωνία ακολουθεί την άλλη.
Το είδα πρόσφατα στο θέατρο στην Αθήνα και το θεώρησα αρκετά ενδιαφέρον. Το αγγλικό κείμενο όμως που διάβασα ήταν εξαιρετικό.
Το είδα πρόσφατα στο θέατρο στην Αθήνα και το θεώρησα αρκετά ενδιαφέρον. Το αγγλικό κείμενο όμως που διάβασα ήταν εξαιρετικό.
February 28, 2019
This was another find through National Theater Life. I remembered being floored after finishing it and that is just how I feel now. Hare is able to communicate so much to the reader! Through constant arguing he is able to flesh out these past lovers, their views on life, their reaction to their guilt of having had an affair and the layers of motives and underlying motives for everything. What makes the play even better is that Hare is able to capture the intensity of fights between people that know each other so well. The way they anticipate the other’s counterargument and known when to press their advantage and when to back off for a parry. The sheer delight of a good argument is also woven beautiful with the poignant memories of love’s past, guilt and death. This play was simply superb.
September 27, 2017
Young teacher reconnects with the older married man with whom she had a six-year long affair after the death of his wife. They both have to try and deal with how it ended, and each other's judgements.
The manipulative man and the now confident young woman make for an interesting potential as they face off to try and deal with the end of their relationship. They play falls down for me in the nastiness they display toward each other. The man becomes more and more verbally combative and it loses its charm.
Can't recommend.
The manipulative man and the now confident young woman make for an interesting potential as they face off to try and deal with the end of their relationship. They play falls down for me in the nastiness they display toward each other. The man becomes more and more verbally combative and it loses its charm.
Can't recommend.
August 13, 2020
Definitely my favourite David Hare play. Essentially a duologue between an older man and a younger woman who are former lovers. Bookended by two scenes with the older man's son, giving it a little extra tenderness.
The two long central scenes, over 80 pages total, act as a kind of pressure cooker of emotions between the two leads, giving the actors a wonderfully layered conflict of class, politics, gender, age, etc.
To be honest, this doesn't feel like a David Hare play. It feels more like something by Neil Labute, but with more compassion for his characters.
The two long central scenes, over 80 pages total, act as a kind of pressure cooker of emotions between the two leads, giving the actors a wonderfully layered conflict of class, politics, gender, age, etc.
To be honest, this doesn't feel like a David Hare play. It feels more like something by Neil Labute, but with more compassion for his characters.
May 18, 2024
I know this play is considered one of the greats of British theatrical literature, but I feel that within an already bloated, self-defined genre of "I had an affair and need to talk about it" literature, this play doesn't say anything new though it says nothing new in a well-written way. There is a lot of rich characterization for actors to tear into, hence the appeal of this play, but the overall story doesn't go beyond two very different people who thought they wanted each other years after a passionate affair.
December 8, 2025
Wanted more of a ‘why,’ thematically at least, although perhaps I am too American to understand this very British play. Perhaps a post-Thatcher treatise, perhaps just a complex character drama, ‘Skylight’ still sings with an excellent build-up and back and forth worthy of study. I wonder if this play, largely a two-hander back and forth, would have been better suited by not favoring one character so clearly. But I’d be curious to see the filmed production, which could unlock the ‘why’ I am currently missing.
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