A left-leaning playwright who was one of the most vocal critics of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, David Hare has also made sporadic excursions into film direction that have yielded interesting, and increasingly polished results. While his work tends to be cerebral, it provides meaty, challenging roles, particularly for women. Much of his best work revolves around females and their roles in society and politics. Hare first rose to prominence in England in the 1970s with his plays "Slag" (1970), "Knuckle" (1974) and "Teeth 'n' Smiles" (1975). Hare's better known stage plays include "Plenty" (1978), a drama that depicts a woman's mental collapse which mirrors Britain's postwar decline and gave Kate Nelligan a tour-de-force stage role which she later repeated in the 1982-83 New York production. "Pravda" (1985) co-authored with Howard Brenton, followed the rise of a contemporary press baron modeled on Rupert Murdoch and starred Anthony Hopkins. "The Knife" (1987) was a controversial opera about a transsexual and offered Mandy Patinkin one of his best stage roles. In the 90s, Hare produced his trilogy focusing on British institutions: the Anglican Church ("Racing Demon" 1990), the British court system ("Murmuring Judges" 1991) and Parliament ("The Absence of War" 1993). Hare won raves for his 1995 three-character chamber drama "Skylight", which dealt with former lovers who make a tentative step toward reconciliation. The folowing year, Hare directed Mike Nichols and Miranda Richardson in the London stage production of Walace Shawn's "The Designated Mourner", which was later filmed.

For the big screen, Hare wrote and directed the haunting, "Wetherby" (1985), a grim, obliquely told story of a suicide in a northern English town that won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and featured a strong central performance by Vanessa Redgrave. His second feature as writer-director "Paris by Night" (1988) was a thrilling morality play centering on a female politician (Charlotte Rampling) who finds her world threatened when she engages in adultery and murder. "Strapless" (1989) also featured a strong woman at its center. Played by Blair Brown (who was then romantically involved with the writer-director), the character is an American doctor who has settled in England. She becomes drawn into both her sister's messy life and British politics. Hare has also provided the screenplay for Louis Malle's "Damage" (1992), which featured a brilliant Miranda Richardson, and has written the adaptations of his own "Plenty" (1985) and "The Secret Rapture" (1993), which offered Juliet Stevenson, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer, Penelope Wilton substantial roles.