Overview

In 1997 the 50-year-old playwright David Hare decided to visit the 50-year-old state of Israel and write a play - Via Dolorosa - about the conflict. He then chose to become the actor of his own play and set about learning to act the monologue for an uninterrupted 95 minutes on stage. Acting Up is a diary of the ups and downs of that learning curve as well as an insight into what it is actors, directors, producers and stage staff actually do in rehearsals. Hare's hilarious diary of his experience on both sides of the Atlantic tells of his difficulties in coming to terms with his terrifying change of career, but also grapples with more serious questions about the nature of acting itself.

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Reviews

'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 <br> 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 <br> You go expecting to hear a talk. What you get is a deeply moving theatrical mosaic. -- Guardian <br>

In 1998/9, the playwright David Hare made his acting debut in London and New York, performing his own monologue about the Middle East. I declined to attend. As a performer myself, I was a little sniffy about Hare's presumption. Eventually I read his monologue - Via Dolorosa - and was bowled over by its honesty. Then I read this rehearsal and performance diary and was shamed by its insight, wit and energy. I stifled the urge to write a fan letter. This review will have to do. Hare explores the highs and lows of stage acting, from the multiple terrors of First Night to the exhaustion of a long run and the whining self-pity that exhaustion breeds:'woke up yesterday suicidal' and 'God help us, it's awards time'. He finds himself ground down by a dim-witted review, a coughing audience member, by his lack of technique and newly acquired hypochondria. Finally he stumbles upon 'the simplest truth which most actors learn on the first day. You have to change all the time to stay where you were.' Acting Up is a thoughtful treasure for theatre goers and practitioners alike. If you saw him perform, buy the book. If you didn't, buy it anyway. Review by KERRY SHALE Editor's note: Kerry Shale is an actor who has recorded many audio cassettes including Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

David Hare is one of Britain's most internationally performed playwrights. Born in Sussex in 1947, he had a long association with Britain's National Theatre, which produced eleven of his plays successively between 1978 and 1997. A trilogy about the church, the law and the Labour Party - Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges and The Absence of War - was presented in repertory at the Olivier Theatre in 1993. Nine of his best-known plays, including Plenty, The Secret Rapture, Skylight, The Blue Room, Amy's View, The Judas Kiss and Via Dolorosa - in which he performed - have also been performed on Broadway. David Hare's most recent play, The Breath of Life, premi red at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, in October 2002.

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