Playwright David Hare will appear onstage as himself beginning July 15.

Hare's one-man show about his journey through the Middle East hotspots was well-received when it was first aired at the Duke of York's, and — given its topicality at the moment — he has decided to play it again for a six-week run at the Duchess Theatre, which has become available after the relatively early closure of The Glee Club.

Via Dolorosa (literally, "the street of sadness," the name given to part of the route taken by Christ on the way to his crucifixion) is the result of Hare's visit to Israel some five years ago.

The play recalls Hare's experiences, as he plays the wide variety of characters that he met and describes the impact they had on him.

While it is not unusual to have political plays on the London stage (and Hare was the author of a famous trilogy of exactly that genre, at the National — Racing Demons, Murmuring Judges and The Absence of War), it is very rare to have a playwright present his message in person onstage rather than via actors.