The Blue Touch Paper: A Memoir

Fiction & Literature, Drama, British & Irish, Biography & Memoir, Entertainment & Performing Arts
Cover of the book The Blue Touch Paper: A Memoir by David Hare, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: David Hare ISBN: 9780393249194
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: November 2, 2015
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: David Hare
ISBN: 9780393249194
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: November 2, 2015
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

“Extraordinary. . . . This is no butterfly-watching stroll through a life.” —Dwight Garner, New York Times

David Hare has long been one of Britain’s best-known screenwriters and dramatists. He’s the author of more than thirty acclaimed plays that have appeared on Broadway, in the West End, and at the National Theatre. He wrote the screenplays for the hugely successful films The Hours, Plenty, and The Reader. Most recently, his play Skylight won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Revival on Broadway.

Now, in his debut work of autobiography, “Britain’s leading contemporary playwright” (Sunday Times) offers a vibrant and affecting account of becoming a writer amid the enormous flux of postwar England. In his customarily dazzling prose and with great warmth and humor, he takes us from his university days at Cambridge to the swinging 1960s, when he cofounded the influential Portable Theatre in London and took a memorable road trip across America, to his breakthrough successes as a playwright amid the political ferment of the ’70s and the moment when Margaret Thatcher came to power at the end of the decade.

Through it all, Hare sets the progress of his own life against the dramatic changes in postwar England, in which faith in hierarchy, religion, empire, and the public good all withered away. Filled with indelible glimpses of such figures as Alfred Hitchcock, Laurence Olivier, Tennessee Williams, Helen Mirren, and Joseph Papp, The Blue Touch Paper is a powerful evocation of a society in transition and a writer in the making.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

“Extraordinary. . . . This is no butterfly-watching stroll through a life.” —Dwight Garner, New York Times

David Hare has long been one of Britain’s best-known screenwriters and dramatists. He’s the author of more than thirty acclaimed plays that have appeared on Broadway, in the West End, and at the National Theatre. He wrote the screenplays for the hugely successful films The Hours, Plenty, and The Reader. Most recently, his play Skylight won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Revival on Broadway.

Now, in his debut work of autobiography, “Britain’s leading contemporary playwright” (Sunday Times) offers a vibrant and affecting account of becoming a writer amid the enormous flux of postwar England. In his customarily dazzling prose and with great warmth and humor, he takes us from his university days at Cambridge to the swinging 1960s, when he cofounded the influential Portable Theatre in London and took a memorable road trip across America, to his breakthrough successes as a playwright amid the political ferment of the ’70s and the moment when Margaret Thatcher came to power at the end of the decade.

Through it all, Hare sets the progress of his own life against the dramatic changes in postwar England, in which faith in hierarchy, religion, empire, and the public good all withered away. Filled with indelible glimpses of such figures as Alfred Hitchcock, Laurence Olivier, Tennessee Williams, Helen Mirren, and Joseph Papp, The Blue Touch Paper is a powerful evocation of a society in transition and a writer in the making.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Jane Addams: Spirit in Action by David Hare
Cover of the book A Guide for the Perplexed: A Novel by David Hare
Cover of the book The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves by David Hare
Cover of the book How to Use Herbs, Nutrients, & Yoga in Mental Health by David Hare
Cover of the book My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson by David Hare
Cover of the book The Little Girl Who Fought the Great Depression: Shirley Temple and 1930s America by David Hare
Cover of the book Pig Tales: An Omnivore's Quest for Sustainable Meat by David Hare
Cover of the book Knitting Pearls: Writers Writing About Knitting by David Hare
Cover of the book The Second Circle: How to Use Positive Energy for Success in Every Situation by David Hare
Cover of the book American Dreamer: A Life of Henry A. Wallace by David Hare
Cover of the book Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974 by David Hare
Cover of the book Call Me Ishmael Tonight: A Book of Ghazals by David Hare
Cover of the book The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Administration by David Hare
Cover of the book Essential Psychopathology Casebook by David Hare
Cover of the book The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder, and the New Forensic Science by David Hare
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy