True to His Beliefs: David Edgar Has Homed in on British Politics Again. He Tells Helen Chappell Why He Is Still a Revolutionary

Chappell, Helen, New Statesman (1996)

I was warned about meeting David Edgar. Daunting, ponderous, awkward--and these were the descriptions from his friends. So it is a surprise when he emerges, fresh from rehearsals at the National Theatre, beaming from ear to ear. "Are we having wine? We must agree not to mention it. I did another interview where they said I started to slur my words." I may be breaking my promise here, but I can't say I noticed any slackness over lunch, where Edgar tucked into a plate of the National's sausages and mash. With a glass of wine.

Recently, he has written several political plays set in Europe and America. Why return to British politics now, in Playing With Fire? "I was a bit alarmed," he says, "to think I hadn't written a play set in Britain since That Summer, my play about the miners' strike, which I wrote in the late 1980s." When Nicholas Hytner, director of the National, asked him to fill the "political slot" at the end of the [pounds sterling]10 Travelex season, as Edgar puts it, he was up for it. And has the press release got it right, describing …

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Publication information: Article title: True to His Beliefs: David Edgar Has Homed in on British Politics Again. He Tells Helen Chappell Why He Is Still a Revolutionary. Contributors: Chappell, Helen - Author. Magazine title: New Statesman (1996). Volume: 134. Issue: 4757 Publication date: September 12, 2005. Page number: 40+. © Not available. COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group.

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