Nadia Blye is a young American war reporter turned academic who teaches Political Studies at Yale. A brief holiday with her boyfriend brings her into contact with a kind of Englishman whose culture and background is a surprise and a challenge, both to her and to her relationship. For thirty five years, David Hare has written plays which catch the flavour of our times, the interconnection between our secret motives and our public politics. Now, at last, he writes about an American, seeking to illustrate how life has subtly changed for so many people in the West in the new century.

The Vertical Hour received its world premiere at the Music Box Theater, Broadway, on November 30, 2006, and received its UK premiere at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 17 January 2008.

David Hare has written over twenty stage plays, among them Plenty, The Secret Rapture, Racing Demon, The Absence of War, Skylight, Amy's View, Via Dolorosa, The Permanent Way and Stuff Happens. He has adapted into English plays by Pirandello, Brecht, Chekhov, Schnitzler, Lorca and Gorky. His television films include Licking Hitler. He has written the screenplay for many feature films, most recently the film of The Hours.