Still, there are a lot of fun titbits here, especially for anyone involved in the theatre world. He knows everyone and everyone knows him and there is name-dropping galore. He lunches with Arthur Miller and gets prime seats at the Lewis-Holyfield fight in Madison Square Garden. The performances themselves are also fairly repetitive, leaving Hare trying to liven up his account by recounting who saw him on what day and how that affected his performance. He also goes on at great length about uncouth members of the audience that cough during performances.
Hare writes well, and there are quite a few nice scenes and theatrical anecdotes.
I found myself not weeping discreetly at the beauty of Judi Dench's performance, but actually unable to control my great, gasping sobs. I had to run down to the rest room at the end to recover, in a state of complete Gwyneth Paltrow. Divided into two sections, one a diary of the British run, the other of the New York one, it makes for an interesting insider's view of the acting world. A fair amount of space in the diary deals with reactions to the play, and Hare's attitude to certain scenes, but generally he expresses the concerns and issues in a manner making them clear even to those who do not know the play. Nevertheless, familiarity with the play certainly makes this book more interesting and useful and is recommended.