GCE AS / a LEVEL the ABSENCE of WAR by DAVID HARE

GCE AS / A LEVEL THE ABSENCE OF WAR By DAVID HARE

DAVID HARE

GCE AS \ A LEVEL \\ © WJEC CBAC Ltd 2016 THE ABSENCE OF WAR By DAVID HARE

THE ABSENCE OF WAR – DAVID HARE

‘Britain’s leading contemporary playwright’ - The Times

‘The Absence of War’ is the final play in a trilogy looking at the state of Britain in the early 1990s. The three plays examine institutions within Britain and the effects of a Conservative Government on these institutions.

The first play ‘Racing Demon’ (1990) examined the Church of England

The second play ‘Murmuring Judge’ (1991) examined the judicial system.

The third play ‘The Absence of War’ (1993) examined the world of politics.

DAVID HARE

Hare has been a prolific playwright since the 1960s. He was born in 1947 and grew up in the fervent atmosphere of the 1960s. He has a great interest in films and this has influenced his writing technique.

He co-founded Portable Theatre Company, acting, directing and writing plays. Slag was first produced in London in 1970 at the Hampstead Theatre Club. He was Resident Dramatist at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1970-1 and Resident Dramatist at the Nottingham Playhouse in 1973. He co-founded Joint Stock Theatre Group with David Aukin and Max Stafford-Clark in 1975, and held a US/UK Bicentennial Fellowship in 1977.

GCE AS \ A LEVEL \\ © WJEC CBAC Ltd 2016 THE ABSENCE OF WAR By DAVID HARE

His plays include:

Knuckle (1974), winner of the Mail on Sunday John Llewellyn Rhys Prize Fanshen (1975), based on the book by William Hinton Plenty (1978), a portrait of disillusionment in post-war Britain, first staged at the National Theatre in London Pravda: A Fleet Street Comedy (1985), an attack on the English press written with Howard Brenton; The Secret Rapture (1988) Racing Demon (1990) about three British institutions: the Anglican church, Murmuring Judges (1991) the legal system and the Labour party The Absence of War (1993), } Skylight (1995) Amy’s View (1997) The Judas Kiss (1998)

He has also adapted Chekhov’s Platonov and Ivanov, Schnitzler’s La Ronde (The Blue Room) and Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children for the theatre. In 1998 (and again in 2002) he performed his own play, Via Dolorosa, a monologue about a visit he made to Israel and the Palestinian Territories for the Royal Court Theatre. His experiences of acting and writing the play are further explored in a diary, Acting Up: A Diary, published in 1999.

Other plays by David Hare include My Zinc Bed, first staged at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in September 2000, and The Breath of Life (2002). The Permanent Way (2003), the story of a political dream turned sour, explores the privatisation of British Rail, and opened at the Royal National Theatre in January 2004. His play Stuff Happens (2005), was premiered at the same theatre in 2005, and is about the invasion of Iraq. His most recent plays include The Power of Yes (2009), South Downs (2011) The Moderate Soprano (2015) and Beyond the Beautiful Forever (2015)

His memoir The Blue Touch Paper was published by Faber & Faber in 2015.

GCE AS \ A LEVEL \\ © WJEC CBAC Ltd 2016 THE ABSENCE OF WAR By DAVID HARE

BACKGROUND

Hare wrote the play ‘The Absence of War’ as a commission from the National Theatre. This was to be the final part of a trilogy performed in the Olivier Theatre. A ‘state of the nation’ trilogy.

Hare did meticulous research for all three plays. He had special access to the Labour election campaign in 1992. On this research he based his portrayal of a Labour party trying to change and fight a Conservative government. His observations on this research were published in his book ‘Asking Around’ – Hare (1993)

The play follows the Labour party over the period of an election that they eventually lose. The main character is the leader, George Jones, who throughout the play comes across as a tragic figure walking towards defeat. We see the acolytes, the self-servers and the other advisers who seem to people politics nowadays. How some are over ambitious and vindictive.

It portrays a party looking for an identity in a world that had changed. Where heavy industry had gone and where union strength had been destroyed in the 1980’s. It was a party in crisis.

The play has an epic scale and has a large cast to convey the busy world of the Westminster parliament. The play calls for quick scene changes between locations such as the cenotaph, the lobby of the House of Commons and the Leader’s office. This made it a perfect play for the NT‘s Olivier theatre. The staging could be epic and lavish to give the play a clear context. The director was Richard Eyre who had directed the other two plays which gave the trilogy a clear theatrical style.

The theme of all the plays is not revolution but responsibility.

GCE AS \ A LEVEL \\ © WJEC CBAC Ltd 2016 THE ABSENCE OF WAR By DAVID HARE

THEMES

The title of the play can be explained by the first scene. It is the annual memorial at the Cenotaph where all the political leaders come to remember the dead of two world wars. The Voice Over explains the situation then Andrew comes forward to address the audience. He works for the Labour party and he questions the point of his work.

He says;

People of my age, we did not fight in a war. If you fight in a war, you have some sense of personal worth.

At the end of the Second World War the Labour party wanted to build a new Britain. It had a vision for new British society after the war. Hare shows a party looking for a reason to exist now that there is no war and that there is no world to rebuild. He portrays a Labour party in crisis, uncertain of its future. This crisis can be seen in the character of George Jones who seems lost in this new political world. He does not know how to fight the Conservative party and its notion that there is ‘no such thing as society’.

Hare explores the way politics has become about presentation rather than policy. It is important not to appear weak or wrong. He also examines the love of power and ambition in the political world.

The war that they wage is a political one – one party against the other. Jones starts to question the point of all the arguments and campaigning.

The play finishes where it started at the Cenotaph with the Labour party having lost the election and a new leader being elected.

George has the final words of the play :

Is this history? Is everything history? Could we have done more? Was it possible? And how shall we know?

GCE AS \ A LEVEL \\ © WJEC CBAC Ltd 2016 THE ABSENCE OF WAR By DAVID HARE

Throughout the play there is a feeling that the characters are trapped in a system and a world that only exists in Westminster. They have no idea what goes on in the real world. Hare’s point is that they have lost touch with the people – with the real world. George says at one point that the opposition does ‘nothing’ only wait for an election.

George is betrayed by his deputy before an important interview and this television appearance announces the collapse of the Labour campaign.

Oliver says in the play:

Elections, you see, people think they’re about arguments …but it’s not. It’s an act of strategy. It’s taking up a position .It isn’t like debate… the only true analogy is with waging war.

The play presents a picture of the political world out of touch with the rest of society. The system is self-serving and there for its own sake.

Hare said:

As far as I’m concerned, the play will fail if people see it as just being about the Labour party.

GCE AS \ A LEVEL \\ © WJEC CBAC Ltd 2016 THE ABSENCE OF WAR By DAVID HARE

CHARACTERS

GEORGE JONES

The main protagonist is George Jones, the leader of the Labour party who are in opposition. He’s described in this way:

He’s decent. He has a total integrity .Underneath his manner, he works like no man I’ve seen. His authority stems from his personal character.

He represents the old Labour party that came to power after the end of the second world war. They fought for a better society and a fairer world for all people. Hare sees him as a tragic figure but not in the classical sense. We as an audience feel sorry for him and pity him as we know that he is about to lose the election. He feels trapped in the world of politics. He often goes walkabout and loses his minders:

It was like spring. I looked around. People were walking. And kissing. And talking. I thought, you lucky people …..You’re free and I’m not.

George has a strong sense of duty. He manages to sort out the Labour party and try to unify it. He doesn’t succeed completely. He is a politician who does not come across well in the media. His presentation skills are not honed and he can’t connect with the public because of the reliance on image and presentation. George knows that the party has lost its roots. He sees that the Tories have their basic belief in money. The Labour party has a belief in justice over which it argues about continuously.

His downfall comes in the scene in Act 2 Scene 8. A speech has been prepared for George. He decides to abandon the speech and to speak form the heart. He starts to talk about his socialist roots:

My socialism is…it is concrete. It is real. It is to do with helping people. It is the way in which we go forward now to make this country in which everyone is helped.

GCE AS \ A LEVEL \\ © WJEC CBAC Ltd 2016 THE ABSENCE OF WAR By DAVID HARE

He gets a good reaction but panics. He often resorts to the words written for him. He does not trust his instinct anymore because the world he works in has to control everything. It is this lack of trust in his own instinct that finally breaks George. He loses the election and spends that night in a hotel in Birmingham where he accepts defeat. It is here that a waitress tells him:

Waitress Are you going to pick that cup off the floor …..You’re not anyone special. Just because you’re who you are. George No. No. I know. Waitress You can still say thank you. George Yes …Yes. Thank you.

MALCOLM PRYCE

He is the antithesis of George. A career politician who craves power and waits patiently to unstable George and gain the leadership. It is him that leaks information to the press about policy. He keeps himself onside by saying nothing. He stands and watches as George flounders. In Act 2 scene 6 there is an encounter between the two where George confronts Malcolm. George tells him:

I think what’s more conspicuous is when, as recently, you say nothing at all.

Malcolm does not understand George’s principals of loyalty and friendship. Malcolm also

attacks the advisers that George has. They are in a completely different political world. The conversation becomes acrimonious and finally Malcolm tells George:

It isn’t the party. It’s not that the party don’t believe in you, you know. I say this in love. They smell that you don’t believe in yourself.

STYLE OF THE PLAY

The play combines large public scenes with intimate scenes in offices and George’s flat. There is an epic sweep to the play and we are drawn into the action by the various figures that talk to us. Many of the characters have an opportunity to address us, not just George. Hare tries to give us an insight into how the different characters feel about the world they live and work in.

When originally staged the designer used large screens to project vistas of London or of the location of scenes such as the House of Commons. The large cast gave the feeling that we were watching a complete world – detached from reality.

Headlong’s production in 2015 was very different. It was a touring production and the set was far simpler relying on furniture and props to give location.

Work needs to be done on staging the play in different styles and spaces. Does the dynamic of the play change?

The play was filmed in 1995 and Hare re-wrote it for a TV screen. The play is basically the same but Hare takes advantage of filmic techniques to push the narrative forwards.

The best insight in to the play and to all the plays of the trilogy is Hare when he says:

People live their lives together.

Images from the headlong production (2015)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Play cover; The Royal National Theatre

John Thaw as George Jones; Robbie Jack - Corbis / Contributor /Getty Images

Book cover; Headlong, 2015 (http://headlong.co.uk/)

Headlong production; Mark Douet (http://www.markdouet.com/)

Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of materials however if there are omissions or inaccuracies please inform us so that any necessary corrections can be made.