ACTING UP by David Hare: New, unread

Description: A NEW, UNREAD COPY OF ACTING UPby David Hare From Publishers WeeklyOn a factual level, this riveting theater diary documents the 10 months (August 1998 to June 1999) during which Hare rehearsed and performed Via Dolorosa, his one-man play describing a 1997 visit to Israel and the Gaza Strip. More deeply, it is the record of a distinguished playwright (Plenty; The Secret Rapture; etc.) discovering what it's like to be the actor who must incarnate a writer's words in the flesh for a live audience. Although it's clear that Hare, who began his theatrical career in the 1970s, is a staunch advocate of the politically charged drama of Brecht, Shaw and Sartre, this is not a book about the Middle East conflict (Hare's sympathies seem equally divided). Instead, it gives readers an intimate sense of what it's like to work in the theater, detailed with a commendable lack of airbrushing. Hare doesn't flinch at committing to paper his childish petulance over director Stephen Daldry's sometimes distracted demeanor; he's horribly cranky about coughing audience members; and he candidly depicts the narcissism any actor must cultivate simply to preserve enough energy to do eight shows a week. He also displays warm appreciation for Daldry's contributions to the play, great generosity toward fellow playwrights (particularly Wallace Shawn, a personal friend) and tender affection for actors like Judi Dench and Nicole Kidman, packing in audiences for his plays Amy's View and The Blue Room, while Hare played to initially tiny houses in London and New York. Hare's love for theater flows from every page, most notably in a thrillingly exact description of the magic of live performance: "The great wind of an audience blows through, and nothing is what you thought it was going to be." (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Library JournalThose of us who, sadly, could not see eminent British playwright Sir David Hare perform his one-person play, Via Dolorosa, in London and on Broadway can take solace in this incredibly textured and revelatory document, which Hare calls "a diary of learning to act." In Via Dolorosa, written in 1998 following several trips to the Middle East, the 51-year old Hare (whose previous acting experience was as a teenager) plays the parts of over 30 Israelis and Palestinians he encountered. The journal begins with the first rehearsal in early August 1998 and concludes with his final performance almost a year later. The entries are imbued with the archetypal self-absorption and neurotic preoccupations familiar to actors and an intimate connection to the play that, at times, will distance readers unacquainted with it. But Hare is a playwright's playwright, and juxtaposed with the performance anxieties and textual intricacies are delightfully stimulating insights, connections, arguments, and ideas, as well as an abundance of anecdotal Royal Court theater-crowd stories. A stunning work; essential for theater collections in all libraries.ABarry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.Review'You might not fully appreciate it when it happens, but the most memorable and gutsy moment of this theatrical season to date is when David Hare, a slim, trim, unassuming figure in his fifties...steps onto the stage of the Booth Theatre to begin his performance playing David Hare in his own "Via Dolorosa." David Hare, the British playwright? Yes, and not only that, but a playwright making his debut as a professional actor." --"The New York Times" "Hare resembles but surpasses Ed Murrow on radio drawing word pictures of the blitz in London. He is the ancient storyteller unfolding his tales under the shade of a tree, in the village square or a fire-lit town...One leaves Hare's performance with the conviction that one word can be worth a thousand pictures." --"Wall Street Journal" "You go expecting to hear a talk. What you get is a deeply moving theatrical mosaic." --"Guardian"About the AuthorDavid Hare is a playwright, screenwriter, and theater and film director. He was won numerous awards and is best known for his screenplays for The Hours (2002) and The Reader (2008) and the plays Plenty (which he adapted into a film starring Meryl Streep in 1985), Racing Demon (1990), Skylight (1997), and Amy's View (1998). He lives in London.

Price: 8.25 USD

Location: Oak Park, Illinois

End Time: 2024-08-10T00:38:40.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.99 USD