Hare, David (1947– )

English dramatist and screenwriter. He co-founded the theatre company Joint Stock in 1974. His plays satirize the decadence of post-war Britain, and include Slag (1970), Teeth 'n' Smiles (1975), Fanshen (1975) on revolutionary Chinese communism, Plenty (1978), and Pravda (1985) (with Howard Brenton) on Fleet Street journalism. Later plays include My Zinc Bed (2000), The Breath of Life (2002), and The Permanent Way (2004), the story of a political dream turned sour.

In a trilogy of plays he looks critically at three aspects of UK life: Racing Demon (1990) which deals with the Church of England, Murmuring Judges (1991) concerning the legal system, and The Absence of War (1994). His screenplays include Wetherby and Plenty (both 1985), Paris by Night (1988), Damage (1992), The Absence of War (1994), Via Dolorosa (2000), and The Hours (2002).

Born in St Leonards, Sussex, Hare was educated at Lancing College, Sussex, and Jesus College, Cambridge University. After working as literary manager and resident dramatist at the Royal Court Theatre, London, he moved to the Nottingham Playhouse before establishing Joint Stock. He wrote the play and screenplay for The Secret Rapture (1993) and directed The Designated Mourner (1997). He has also adapted Chekhov's Platonov and Ivanov, Schnitzler's La Ronde (The Blue Room), and Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children for the theatre. He has published an autobiography Writing Left-Handed (1991), and his experiences of acting and writing plays are further explored in a diary, Acting Up: A Diary, published in 1999.

Hare, David (1917– )

US sculptor. Based in New York City, he came under the influence of European surrealists, and founded and published the surrealist periodical VVV (1942–44). He used metal forms in his sculptures, as in Suicite (1946). In 1965 he also began to work as a painter. Hare was born in New York City. He studied at several schools (1923–39) before becoming a medical photographer.