Playwright David Hare will make his Broadway debut at the Booth Theatre in a one-man play written by himself about, well, himself.
Via Dolorosa, which premiered at London's Royal Court Theater in September 1998, will begin Broadway performances in March 1999 after the Booth's current tenant, Sandra Bernhard's I'm Still Here...Damn It!, closes Feb. 27, 1999. Specific dates for Via Dolorosa are still to be announced.
A twenty week, limited Broadway run of Dolorosa was approved by Actors' Equity on Dec. 9, a spokesman for Equity told PBOL.
In 1997, after many invitations, 50-year-old playwright Hare decided to pay a three-week visit to the state of Israel, then celebrating its own 50th birthday. Deeply touched by the experience, he began a memoir which became Via Dolorosa. The play offers a meditation on the time spent in both Israel and Palestine, which leaves the author questioning his own values in the context of the powerful beliefs of those he met.
Via Dolorosa or "Way of Sadness" premiered at the West End's Royal Court Downstairs (at the Duke of York's) in a month-long run in September 1998. Hare's many plays include current Broadway sensation: The Blue Room starring Nicole Kidman, last season's The Judas Kiss, and the Broadway-bound Amy's View. Other works include Plenty, The Secret Rapture, The Absence of War, and The Changing Room. The London run of Via Dolorosa marked Hare's professional acting debut.
If everything goes as expected with Amy's View, venue still to be announced, it would mark the third Hare play to open on Broadway in the 1998-99 season and the fourth (if you count Judas Kiss) in a twelve month period.
Stephen Daldry, who directed the London premiere of Via Dolorosa, will travel cross the pond to helm the Broadway run as well. The former Royal Court artistic director left the theatre last year to pursue a career in film, but since Daldry accompanied Hare on his trip to Israel, he seemed a natural choice. Other West End productions for Daldry include An Inspector Calls, Search and Destroy, The Kitchen, and The Editing Process.
