In a recent interview on television, David Hare declared that he is not a social doctor prescribing remedies for our national ills. Nevertheless, like most dramatists of his generation, he is concerned with diagnosing our social condition. The particular interest and originality of his plays lies in the immense variety of subject matter and styles he employs to illuminate that condition. In Teeth 'n' Smiles, he uses a rock band playing at a Cambridge May Ball as a framework for wider comment. In Knuckle, he adopts a thriller format. Fanshen tells the story of the Chinese revolution in a particular village employing a Brechtian narrative style. Brassneck, which he wrote with Howard Brenton, is an exuberant sweep through post-war British history, exposing the corruption and political in-fighting in an imaginary Midlands town. The effectiveness with which he handles these different styles and subjects reveals his considerable talent as...