In a career that has lasted more than thirty years, David Hare has written and adapted more than twenty stage plays and a number of screenplays, most of which combine his talents for creating intense, personal conflicts with his interest in criticizing conservative politics in Britain. Some of his best-known and most popular plays include Plenty (1978); A Map of the World (1982); his trilogy of plays about social institutions in Great Britain, Racing Demon (for which he earned both an Olivier Award and a Tony Award following its production in 1990), Murmuring Judges (1991), and The Absence of War (1992); and Skylight (1995).

Besides writing plays and movies, David Hare has also become an accomplished director and has contributed essays to newspapers, magazines, and anthologies. One of his own collections of his work is called Writing Left-Handed (1991). The essays in the book describe Hare's thoughts...