Sir David Hare: Too many plays are adaptations of film or TV

Sir David Hare fears the theatre industry is stifling creativity in favour of bankable adaptations

Too many plays are based on television series and films, writer Sir David Hare has said.

The writer of Plenty has raised concerns that the theatre industry is stifling creativity in favour of bankable adaptations.

Sir David, 77, has suggested that contemporary plays are simply made to order on the insistence of producers, rather than great artistic endeavours.

His comments come amid a West End season that features adaptations of Back to the Future, Dr Strangelove, and Mean Girls.

Sir David explained the process that leads to the proliferation of adaptation, saying: “I’m afraid now [it’s] ‘there’s a television series, would you like to write a play based on that television series?’ it’s people ringing you up saying will you do this.

“Whereas the idea that a person … sits alone, comes up with their own idea, sends it in, and you are excited to put it on: that, I’m afraid, is passing a little.”

Sir David speaking on Ruthie’s Table 4 podcast, said many producers hoped to guarantee a risk-free audience that might not buy tickets for original material.

The playwright himself is no stranger to the adaptation, and won an Oscar for his work on the script of The Hours, based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Cunningham.

He also adapted Bernhard Schlink’s novel The Reader for the screen.

Sir David said he has written three original plays but is struggling to have them staged because “people have lost their nerve”.

“There’s a post-Covid terror; partly, of course, the audience is not back for straight plays in the same numbers,” he said.

“There’s a feeling that nobody quite knows what to do and then, thirdly, people are just moved to make it feel more like the film industry.”

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