Clapham Picture House, London

September 10, 2014

Imagine you had to think of the perfect production to be a five star theatrical success yet also be reasonably simple to film for subsequent worldwide distribution. You’d choose a small cast, one setting, no cavalry charges or aliens; then you’d get one of the UK’s finest playwrights to do the script, engage an award winning director, sign up two successful film and stage actors for the main roles and you’d be away! Well that’s Skylight: brilliantly conceived and formed, directed with great insight and impeccably acted. Perfect… well nearly.

The writer is David Hare, one of the best playwrights currently writing for the English speaking theatre. Hare wrote Skylight for the National Theatre in 1995. It won the Oliver Award for best new play and transferred to the West End and then to Broadway. He agreed to it being revived this summer on condition that it be filmed for NTlive and thus become available to a world-wide audience. This insistence is based, I believe, not on vanity but on conviction. Hare’s conviction is not some simple political mantra but a desire to see people engage with issues which, whether they are aware of it...