Looking at two film versions of Hare's work, critic Haskell praises the author for his creation of strong female leads. She primarily focuses on the film adaptation of Plenty starring Meryl Streep as Susan Traherne.

First, Kate Nelligan, beautiful and sardonic as the larger-than-life and eternally dissatisfied heroine of David Hare's play Plenty (produced at New York City's Public Theater and transferred to Broadway several seasons ago). Then, Vanessa Redgrave, all natural radiance as a Yorkshire schoolteacher in Wetherby, Hare's first venture as filmmaker. And now, in the movie Plenty, Meryl Streep giving brilliantly muted and quite different shadings to the character of Susan Traherne. Together, they constitute a three-woman/one-man renaissance of great women's roles.

A male critic I know was so startled at the spectacle of these powerhouse heroines that he began looking for signs of misogyny in Hare True, Jean Travers (Redgrave) sends her...