The Vertical Hour is a play by
David HareSir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Biography :Hare was born David Rippon in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Theodore Rippon, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing College and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
. The play addresses the relationship of characters with opposing views on the
2003 invasion of IraqThe 2003 invasion of Iraq, was led by the United States, backed by British forces and smaller contingents from Australia, Denmark, Poland and Spain. Four countries participated with troops during the initial invasion phase, which lasted from March 20 to May 1...
, and also explores psychological tension between public lives and private lives. The play received its world premiere at the
Music Box TheaterThe Music Box Theater is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 239 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.The once most aptly named theater on Broadway, the intimate Music Box was designed by architect C. Howard Crane and constructed by composer Irving Berlin and producer Sam H. Harris...
on
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
, on November 30 2006, in a production directed by
Sam MendesSamuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes CBE is an English stage, film and commercial director at RSA US. He is known for his 1998 production of Cabaret, starring Alan Cumming, and his debut film, American Beauty, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director.-Early years:Mendes was born in Reading,...
. The premiere cast featured
Bill NighyWilliam Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He started working in theatre and television, before his first cinema role in 1981, and is perhaps best known to international film audiences for his roles in Love Actually, Shaun of the Dead, Notes on a Scandal, Underworld, Auf...
,
Julianne MooreJulianne Moore is an American actress.She began her acting career in 1983 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the soap opera, As the World Turns, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1988...
in her Broadway debut and
Andrew ScottAndrew Scott may refer to:*Andrew Scott , Irish film, television and stage actor*Andrew Scott , Roman Catholic Bishop of Glasgow*Andrew Scott *Andrew Scott , Canadian...
. It closed on 11 March 2007 after a run of 23 previews and 117 performances.
The play received its UK premiere at the
Royal Court TheatreThe Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
on 17 January 2008 in a production directed by Jeremy Herrin.
The Vertical Hour is a play by
David HareSir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Biography :Hare was born David Rippon in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Theodore Rippon, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing College and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
. The play addresses the relationship of characters with opposing views on the
2003 invasion of IraqThe 2003 invasion of Iraq, was led by the United States, backed by British forces and smaller contingents from Australia, Denmark, Poland and Spain. Four countries participated with troops during the initial invasion phase, which lasted from March 20 to May 1...
, and also explores psychological tension between public lives and private lives. The play received its world premiere at the
Music Box TheaterThe Music Box Theater is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 239 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.The once most aptly named theater on Broadway, the intimate Music Box was designed by architect C. Howard Crane and constructed by composer Irving Berlin and producer Sam H. Harris...
on
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
, on November 30 2006, in a production directed by
Sam MendesSamuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes CBE is an English stage, film and commercial director at RSA US. He is known for his 1998 production of Cabaret, starring Alan Cumming, and his debut film, American Beauty, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director.-Early years:Mendes was born in Reading,...
. The premiere cast featured
Bill NighyWilliam Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He started working in theatre and television, before his first cinema role in 1981, and is perhaps best known to international film audiences for his roles in Love Actually, Shaun of the Dead, Notes on a Scandal, Underworld, Auf...
,
Julianne MooreJulianne Moore is an American actress.She began her acting career in 1983 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the soap opera, As the World Turns, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1988...
in her Broadway debut and
Andrew ScottAndrew Scott may refer to:*Andrew Scott , Irish film, television and stage actor*Andrew Scott , Roman Catholic Bishop of Glasgow*Andrew Scott *Andrew Scott , Canadian...
. It closed on 11 March 2007 after a run of 23 previews and 117 performances.
The play received its UK premiere at the
Royal Court TheatreThe Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
on 17 January 2008 in a production directed by Jeremy Herrin. The principal actors were
Indira VarmaIndira Varma is an English actress.-Early life and background:Varma was the only child of an Indian father and a Swiss mother who was part Genoese Italian. Before her rise to fame she was a member of Musical Youth Theatre Company...
,
Anton LesserAnton Lesser is a British actor. He attended Moseley Grammar School and the University of Liverpool before going to RADA in 1977 where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year....
and
Tom RileyTom Riley is a film, television, and theatre actor.Tom was involved in drama in his home town of Maidstone, Kent, since the age of four and spent his school years writing and directing plays...
. It was the fastest selling new play in the Royal Court's history and was broadcast on BBC Radio Three on May 25 2008.
Roles
| Role |
Premiere Cast, 30 November 2006New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, Music Box TheaterThe Music Box Theater is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 239 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.The once most aptly named theater on Broadway, the intimate Music Box was designed by architect C. Howard Crane and constructed by composer Irving Berlin and producer Sam H. Harris...
|
UK Premiere Cast, 17 January 2008London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, Royal Court TheatreThe Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
|
| Nadia Blye |
Julianne MooreJulianne Moore is an American actress.She began her acting career in 1983 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the soap opera, As the World Turns, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1988...
|
Indira Varma Indira Varma is an English actress.-Early life and background:Varma was the only child of an Indian father and a Swiss mother who was part Genoese Italian. Before her rise to fame she was a member of Musical Youth Theatre Company...
|
| Oliver Lucas |
Bill NighyWilliam Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He started working in theatre and television, before his first cinema role in 1981, and is perhaps best known to international film audiences for his roles in Love Actually, Shaun of the Dead, Notes on a Scandal, Underworld, Auf...
|
Anton Lesser Anton Lesser is a British actor. He attended Moseley Grammar School and the University of Liverpool before going to RADA in 1977 where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year....
|
| Philip Lucas |
Andrew ScottAndrew Scott is an Irish film, television, and stage actor. He received the 2005 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for A Girl in a Car with a Man and an IFTA award for Dead Bodies....
|
Tom Riley Tom Riley is a film, television, and theatre actor.Tom was involved in drama in his home town of Maidstone, Kent, since the age of four and spent his school years writing and directing plays...
|
| Dennis Dutton |
Dan Bittner |
Joseph Kloska |
| Terri Scholes |
Rutina Wesley Rutina Wesley is an American film, stage, and television actress.-Early life:Wesley was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. Wesley's father Ivery Wheeler is a professional tap dancer and mother Cassandra Wesley was a showgirl. She attended high school at the Las Vegas Academy of International...
|
Wunmi Mosaku Wunmi Mosaku is a British actress of African origin most famous for her role as Joy in the 2009 BBC Two miniseries Moses Jones....
|
Synopsis
Nadia Blye is a professor at
Yale UniversityYale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
, a former war correspondent during the 1990's Balkan conflicts, and a supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As the play begins, she is in conference with one of her students, Dennis Dutton, over the merits of one of his writing assignments. During the course of the conversation, Dennis reveals that he is infatuated with Nadia, even though he has a fiancée. Distressed, Nadia dismisses Dennis from her office.
Nadia and her English boyfriend, Philip Lucas, travel to Shropshire to visit Philip's father, Oliver, a physician, so that Nadia can meet Oliver for the first time. Philip tells Nadia that his father is a habitual womanizer and is opposed to the Iraq war. Oliver and Nadia debate the merits of the invasion of Iraq and of intervention by one country into the affairs of another country in general. Nadia justifies the invasion based on the earlier oppression of the Iraqi people, and her observations that the Western powers did nothing to alleviate the suffering of the Balkan peoples in the 1990s. In the play, her character is described as having visited US President
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
to offer advice on foreign policy related to the Middle East and Iraq. She acknowledges that the aftermath of the invasion was undesirable, but that this did not negate the original rationale. Oliver counters that the US and UK invading forces had no plans for the reconstruction of Iraq and that the rationale for the invasion, purported weapons of mass destruction, was false and unjustified.
During the course of the discussion, the strained relationship between Oliver and Philip is revealed to Nadia. An unspoken attraction develops between Oliver and Nadia, of which Philip is suspicious. Philip clearly tells Nadia that his father is trying to seduce her, which leads to strain between Nadia and Philip. Nadia also learns of Oliver's "open marriage" and extramarital affairs, one of which led to the accidental death of one of Oliver's mistresses. This caused Oliver to give up his London practice and home, and to move to the country in isolation.
The play ends as Nadia is in conference with another student, Terri Scholes, criticising Terri's latest writing assignment for a class. Terri tells Nadia that she plans to leave Yale because her boyfriend has broken up with her. Nadia commiserates that she, too, has recently broken up with a boyfriend. She convinces Terri to wait a day before finalizing her decision to leave Yale, but reveals that she herself will be leaving Yale to return to being a war correspondent.