ABSTRACT
A more filmic illusion is possible because stage lighting has become infinitely and finely variable, so susceptible to electronic control that onstage action has almost unlimited mobility from place to place. In The Secret Rapture and Racing Demon scenes flow together, changing place smoothly as in a film, and words illuminate the contrasts and similarities between the images. But in the later play the actual “built” stage set is kept to a strict minimum. For all the filmic devices in David Hare’s late plays, which free his characters from conventional stage settings, it is the living presence of actors on stage which continues to provide the essential dramatic experience. By using a film-maker’s techniques in the theatre and so controlling what an audience sees and senses, Hare might be accused of taking responsibility away from his actors and manipulating an audience’s reaction to his drama.
