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Celebrating Malign Energy: David Hare's The Secret Rapture
| Article
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15591 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
2 / 1989 |
2,543 Words |
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Herb Greer
Herb Greer is an American writer and playwright who lives in
Britain and on the Continent. |
On the South bank of the Thames, London's National Theater is presenting a new play by David Hare. The critic on London's Sunday Times--John Peter--responded to it not so much with enthusiasm as with fervor. His review began: "David Hare has written one of the best English plays since the war and established himself as the finest British dramatist of his generation." An "interview" in the program allows Hare to express his own feelings about his generation:
What's noticeable so far about the most popular plays of
this decade is that they . . . have seemed, perhaps
unintentionally, to end up celebrating malign energy. Or
at least they hitch a ride from their villains . . . .I'm
trying in this play, perhaps, to buck the trend."
Warped Blake
What The Secret Rapture has in common with Hare's other work on stage, film and the box is a warped version of William Blake's definition of good and evil. Blake said that evil is the action springing from energy, while good is the passive which obeys reason. Among the silly people who inhabit Hare's theatrical world, it is invariably the energetic and active characters who are, per se, evil. The passive characters are good not because they obey reason (most of them do not), but because they are passive. Energy in this new play of Hare's, especially rational energy, is shown as cruel, unpleasant, and immoral. Passivity as such is good, and has nothing to do with intelligence and
... (1980 of 14052 Characters)
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