The Vertical Hour

"The Vertical Hour" is a play by David Hare. The play addresses the relationship of characters with opposing views on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and also explores psychological tension between public lives and private lives. [cite news | author=Michael Billington | title='A five-course meal after a diet of candyfloss' - Hare hits Manhattan | url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/review/0,,1961506,00.html | work=The Guardian | date=2006-12-01 | accessdate=2008-02-02] The play received its world premiere at the Music Box Theater on Broadway, on November 30 2006, in a production directed by Sam Mendes. The premiere cast featured Bill Nighy, Julianne Moore in her Broadway debut and Andrew Scott. [cite news | author=Robert Simonson | title=Hare's The Vertical Hour, With Julianne Moore, to Play Music Box | url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/99923.html | work=Playbill Arts | date=2006-05-26 | accessdate=2008-02-02] [cite news | author=Ben Brantley | title=Battle Zones in Hare Country | url=http://theater2.nytimes.com/2006/12/01/theater/reviews/01hour.html?pagewanted=all | work=The New York Times | date=2006-12-01| accessdate=2008-02-02] It closed on 11 March 2007 after a run of 23 previews and 117 performances.

The play received its UK premiere at the Royal Court Theatre on 17 January 2008 in a production directed by Jeremy Herrin. [cite news | author=Michael Billington | title=The Vertical Hour (Royal Court, London) | url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/drama/reviews/story/0,,2245380,00.html | work=The Guardian | date=23 January 2008 | accessdate=2008-02-02] [cite news | author=Paul Taylor | title=The Vertical Hour (Royal Court, London) | url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre/reviews/the-vertical-hour-royal-court-london-773036.html | work=The Independent| date=24 January 2008 | accessdate=2008-02-02] The principal actors were Indira Varma, Anton Lesser and Tom Riley. It was the fastest selling new play in the Royal Court's history and was broadcast on BBC Radio Three on May 25 2008.

Roles

ynopsis

Nadia Blye is a professor at Yale University, a former war correspondent during the 1990's Balkan conflicts, and a supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As the play begins, she is in conference with one of her students, Dennis Dutton, over the merits of one of his writing assignments. During the course of the conversation, Dennis reveals that he is infatuated with Nadia, even though he has a fiancée. Distressed, Nadia dismisses Dennis from her office.

Nadia and her English boyfriend, Philip Lucas, travel to Wales to visit Philip's father, Oliver, a physician, so that Nadia can meet Oliver for the first time. Philip tells Nadia that his father is a habitual womanizer and is opposed to the Iraq war. Oliver and Nadia debate the merits of the invasion of Iraq and of intervention by one country into the affairs of another country in general. Nadia justifies the invasion based on the earlier oppression of the Iraqi people, and her observations that the Western powers did nothing to alleviate the suffering of the Balkan peoples in the 1990s. In the play, her character is described as having visited US President George W. Bush to offer advice on foreign policy related to the Middle East and Iraq. She acknowledges that the aftermath of the invasion was undesirable, but that this did not negate the original rationale. Oliver counters that the US and UK invading forces had no plans for the reconstruction of Iraq and that the rationale for the invasion, purported weapons of mass destruction, was false and unjustified.

During the course of the discussion, the strained relationship between Oliver and Philip is revealed to Nadia. An unspoken attraction develops between Oliver and Nadia, of which Philip is suspicious. Philip clearly tells Nadia that his father is trying to seduce her, which leads to strain between Nadia and Philip. Nadia also learns of Oliver's "open marriage" and extramarital affairs, one of which led to the accidental death of one of Oliver's mistresses. This caused Oliver to give up his London practice and home, and to move to the country in isolation.

The play ends as Nadia is in conference with another student, Terri Scholes, criticising Terri's latest writing assignment for a class. Nadia then reveals her future plans to Terri.

References

External links

* [http://www.ibdb.com/show.asp?ID=442811 IBDB]