Gethsemane

Description

Once it was possible to do good by being good. Now the only way to do good is by being clever. Nothing is more important to a modern political party than fund-raising. But the values of the donors can't always coincide with the professed beliefs of the party. And family scandal within the Cabinet has the potential to throw both the money-raisers and the money-spenders into chaos. This richly imagined ensemble play about British public life looks at the way business, media and politics are now intertwined to nobody's advantage, as, in an unforgiving world, one character after another passes through Gethsemane.

David Hare is one of Britain's most internationally performed playwrights. He was born in Sussex in 1947. Thirteen of his plays have been presented at the National Theatre, including a trilogy about the Church, the Law and the Labour Party - Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges and The Absence of War - which was presented in repertory in the Olivier Theatre in 1993. His most recent play, The Vertical Hour, was staged at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2008. Ten of his best-known plays, including Plenty, The Secret Rapture, Skylight, The Blue Room, Amy's View, The Judas Kiss, Via Dolorosa - in which he performed - and The Vertical Hour have also been presented on Broadway.