South Downs and Mere Fact, Mere Fiction
Author(s): David Hare
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.
General Information
- :
- : Faber and Faber
- : Faber and Faber
- : 0.109
- : 01 August 2011
- : United Kingdom
- : 01 November 2011
- : books
Other Specifications
- : David Hare
- : Paperback
- : 822.914
- : 96
More About The Product
Previews at Chichester from 2 September 2011
David Hare was born in Sussex in 1947. He is the author of 28 plays for the stage, sixteen of which have been seen at the National Theatre. These include PLENTY, THE SECRET RAPTURE, SKYLIGHT, AMY'S VIEW, VIA DOLOROSA, STUFF HAPPENS, GETHSEMANE and THE POWER OF YES. In 1993, three plays about the Church, the Law and the Labour Party - RACING DEMON, MURMURING JUDGES, and THE ABSENCE OF WAR - were presented in repertory in the Olivier Theatre. His many screenplays for cinema and television include LICKING HITLER, DAMAGE, THE HOURS and THE READER. He directed his most recent television film PAGE EIGHT for the BBC.
