DAVID HARE (b.1947)
Plenty. London: Faber and Faber, 1978.
Signed, profusely-annotated first edition of Plenty, richly complemented by over 2,000 words of illuminating commentary added by the playwright across 67 pages. First performed at the National Theatre in 1978, after which it was nominated for an Olivier Award for Play of the Year, Plenty premiered off-Broadway in 1982 and on Broadway in 1983 – both times directed by Hare – and was adapted for film in 1985, with Meryl Streep as Susan Traherne, the former secret agent turned unhappy diplomat’s wife whose disillusionment stands for that of post-war British society. David Hare invites the reader behind the scenes of ‘the first play where I felt I had achieved what I set out to – tell the story of Britain’s post-war prosperity through the fight of a single woman’: offering commentary on Plenty, its development and reception, and anecdote from the world of theatre and film, as well as reflecting with some surprise upon the continued relevance of the issues he set out to treat in the 1970s.

Octavo. Original card covers (lightly wear to spine).

[with:] National Theatre printed programme, ‘Plenty; a new play by David Hare’, 12 April 1978 [press night].

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