Skylight by David Hare Skylight
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Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Skylight by David Hare Skylight. Kyra is a young teacher working and living in one of London's less attractive districts. Tom's wife has recently died of cancer: he is a wealthy entrepreneur and Kyra's former lover. On a cold winter night Tom's teenage son, Edward, calls on the young teacher to beg her to be reconciled with his father. Tom himself arrives, wishing to expiate his guilt and renew his lust. Kyra complies, sort of, until the debate soars and the insults fly in a way that makes you wish your own kitchen-table tiffs were half as brutal, half as civilised. David Hare's passionate play is sharp and satisfying, an impassioned head-on collision of values and confused desires. Author David Hare. Sir David Hare (b 1947) Hare was born in Bexhill, East Sussex into a family with no tradition in theatre but which was keen for him to better himself through education, with the goal of becoming a chartered accountant. He has written little of his family and childhood except to record that Bexhill in the Fifties was "incredibly dull". In 1970 his first play 'Slag' was performed at the Hampstead Theatre Club and a year later he first worked at the National Theatre, beginning one of the longest relationships of any playwright with a contemporary theatre. Through the 1970s he also ran a touring theatre company working with a number of other writers and then in 1978 wrote 'Plenty', his most ambitious play to date which was almost universally panned by the London critics. Feeling that his career was almost over, he left London for America. In 1993 his trilogy about three institutions at the heart of Britain's society, 'Racing Demon', 'Murmuring Judges' and 'The Absence of War', were presented together in repertory at the Olivier Theatre. Since 1983, nine of his best-known plays, including 'Plenty', 'The Secret Rapture', 'Skylight', 'The Judas Kiss', 'Amy's View' and 'Via Dolorosa' have been presented on Broadway. 'Plenty' and 'The Secret Rapture' have also been filmed. He has written several screenplays including 'Wetherby', 'Paris by Night' and 'Strapless' as well as several for television; 'Licking Hitler', 'Dreams of Leaving' and 'Heading Home'. Other work has included the opera libretto for 'The Knife'. His adaptation of 'La Ronde' by Schnitzler was retitled 'The Blue Room' and received critical acclaim in the Donmar Warehouse production starring Nicole Kidman. Hare's awards include a BAFTA, a New York Drama Critics Circle Award, a Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear, an Olivier Award and a London Theatre Critics' Award. He was knighted in 1998. Play Skylight. 'Skylight' opened at the Royal National Theatre, Cottesloe, directed by Richard Eyre, in 1995 and the production won the Olivier Award for that season. A later Broadway production was also nominated for several Tony's. East London school teacher Kyra Hollis is visited on the same night by son and father Edward and Tom Sargeant. Kyra had been living with the Sargeant family years earlier, but left after her affair with Tom was discovered by Tom's wife, who has since passed. Edward now accuses Kyra of having left him as well, as he saw her as a big sister; and he demands to know why she left his life. Shortly thereafter, Tom - a wealthy restaurateur - appears unheralded and for no apparent reason. Kyra's less than glamorous lifestyle leads him to poke fun at her to the point of insult, accusing her of self-punishment. After Kyra cooks a spaghetti dinner (which the actress actually cooks on stage), the talk turns to their relationship, and it becomes clear that their chances to be rekindled rest on whether one of them can change their preconceived notions of the other. The Bench Production. This play was staged at Havant Arts Centre, East Street Havant - Bench Theatre's home since 1977. David Penrose was voted 'Best Amateur Actor' for his portrayal of Tom, in The News 'Guide' Awards 2005. Kyra Julie Wood Edward Martin McBride Tom David Penrose. Director Judy Bodenham Producer Ingrid Corrigan Stage Manager Zoë Chapman Assistant Stage Managers Laura Bradshaw Sophie Callard Lighting Design Damon Wakelin Lighting Operation Nick Hurd Sound Archivist Killian Fox Sound Recordist Nathan Chapman Sound Operation Ingrid Corrigan Props Sue Dawes Publicity Ingrid Corrigan Programme Editor Derek Callam Photographs Bill Whiting Front of House Ingrid Corrigan. Director's Notes. Late last year I read David Hare's 'Skylight' and loved it. Playwright David Hare describes the relationships in his play as an exploration of ". the gap between what he, the character, says he is, and what we see him to be: the difference between what a man or a woman says, and what he or she does." He adds that ". the wonderful thing about theatre, which is completely paradoxical about it, is that the whole point about it is intimacy in a public place". It's a huge opportunity and responsibility, to direct such a play and we are working hard to achieve something special. Reviews. The News Mike Allen. Masterly acting gives Bench another triumph. Another triumph for Havant-based Bench Theatre - and for David Penrose in particular. David Hare's masterly play is about emotions and ideas - private business and public idealism, personal guilt and atonement, 'possession' of and respect for people. Here director Judy Bodenham takes the brave decision not to rush it, rightly recognising that the words need to be savoured. But the production catches fire because of Penrose's mastery of dynamic and tempo variation, not least in delivering Hare's barbs of sardonic social humour. This Tom is complex: monstrous perhaps, but not a monster. Julie Wood, on stage throughout as Kyra, Tom's younger ex-mistress, achieves many of her best effects by sidelong glances that speak a hundred words. If she seems at times to lapse into speechifying - well, that is only in direct comparison with the vastly more experienced Penrose. Martin McBride catches both the gaucheness and the audacity of youth as Tom's son - cleverly showing him to be an 18-year-old with more of his father in him than he would want to admit. Peter Woodward's naturalistic set is as striking in detail as in broad brush. Skylight by David Hare. In a cold London flat during the depths of Winter, Kyra and newly widowed Tom reconnect years after the end of a passionate affair. Was it their polar opposite approach to life that drove them apart, or was it Tom ‘accidently’ letting his wife find out? What has kept them apart all these years, and might they still love each other? Over the course of a single night, a series of unexpected visitors, and a combination of sadness, anger and laughter, will Kyra find the answers? Skylight was originally produced at the National Theatre before transferring to the West End and Broadway, winning an Olivier Award for Best Play. Book your tickets now to catch Skylight at Chipping Norton Theatre before it heads out on its UK Tour. David Hare is the author of 29 plays for stage, including Plenty, Racing Demon, Amy’s View, Pravda (with Howard Brenton) and Stuff Happens. His many screenplays include The Hours and The Reader. Skylight UK Tour. "Utterly captivating… packs an emotional punch that stays with you after leaving the theatre" – Cotswold Life "One of the most impressive productions I’ve seen this year …Rosie Wyatt is outstanding" - **** OX Magazine "David Hare's beautifully staged study of love and ideals" - ***** Oxford Mail. Cast & Creative. Louis Dempsey – Tom. Louis spent two years starring the original West End cast for the hit comedy Stones in His Pockets, and has since appeared in lead roles at the Young Vic, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Liverpool Everyman. Last year he played Finbar in English Touring Theatre’s production of The Weir. Film credits include Cloud Atlas, opposite Jim Broadbent, and Troy. Television credits include Waterloo Road, Holby City and The Bill. Rosie Wyatt - Kyra. Rosie’s stage credits include the national and international touring production of One Man, Two Guvnors, Chichester Theatre’s production of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and Spine at Soho Theatre, for which she won the 2014 Stage Award for Acting Excellence. Screen credits include Turn Up Charlie for Netflix and Inspector George Gently for the BBC. Roly Botha – Edward. Roly has just finished a run in Sean Holmes and Andy Nyman’s Ghost Stories for Lyric Hammersmith. He played the lead in the acclaimed production of Strangers In Between at Trafalgar Studios and has previously appeared in Doctors, EastEnders and Casualty. Theatre Review: David Hare’s ‘Skylight’ Synopsis: On a cold London evening, teacher Kyra Hollis receives an unexpected visit from her former lover, Tom Sergeant, a successful restaurateur whose wife has recently died. As the evening progresses, the two attempt to rekindle their relationship only to find themselves stuck in a battle of opposing ideologies and mutual desires. Among the tourists and unremitting chaos of Leicester Square lies Wyndham’s Theatre and David Hare’s tremendous understated, absorbing Skylight starring Carey Mulligan, Bill Nighy and Matthew Beard. This revival of the play sees Nighy return to the role of Tom Sergeant, the part he took over from Michael Gambon in its original 1996 National Theatre run. What makes this new production even more special is Carey Mulligan in her West End debut as Kyra Hollis. That’s not the end of the top talent either as Stephen Daldry directs, a man responsible for the likes of BILLY ELLIOT, THE HOURS and THE READER with the latter two also written by Hare.