ABSTRACT
“The play is in the air,” somewhere between the auditorium and the stage. The Bay at Nice and Wrecked Eggs are conversation pieces. But what David Hare’s characters say, particularly in the first panel of that diptych, evaporates as they contradict themselves. Hare’s circular dialogue creates a series of present moments which gather meaning as they accumulate. What Hare means by character, as opposed to personality, emerges from the play’s reflecting episodes which relate to each other thematically. As an isolated entity, Wrecked Eggs seems strangely flat. However, set beside the other play, paper-thin characters, and jejune dialogue take on an increasing “volume.” The enigmatic determination which characterized Alice Park, and fascinated Susan Traherne, moves from the periphery of Plenty into the centre of the plays to become character. Hare plays on those sympathies by drawing a self-sacrificing woman who works hard for her family after long days at school and, because she cares for others, must always do more.
