When David Hare’s latest play The Vertical Hour premiered on Broadway with Bill Nighy and Julianne Moore, directed by the legendary Sam Mendes, it wasn’t widely embraced as up to his usual brilliance. Perhaps it was that the leads, although incredible actors, were miscast as was debated by leading critics. In any case, the latest production which premiered in the UK at the Royal Court Theatre only weeks ago, has critics shifting their views to a more unanimous voice of gratification. Now the Sydney Theatre Company is presenting the Brit-playwright’s work, which many hail as Hare exploring the human psyche over his typical exploration of issues.

In The Vertical Hour, Victoria Longley plays Nadia Blye, a Yale professor and ex war-correspondent. She is an articulate, informed, accomplished woman, about to meet her partner’s father Oliver, played by Pip Miller. Oliver is an intellectual match for her, with a shady past and a strained relationship with his son, Philip (Christopher Stollery). Philip has come to a point in his life when he feels it necessary to meet with his father and introduce the woman who has made his life good again. What he finds is that these two are much more suited to each other than he is to them. The threesome work well together, performing with vivacity, vigour and wit, however Stollery’s character is not as well constructed. As a result he literally and figuratively hovers around the edges of the set and story, making us wonder why such a strong heroine like Blye would be with such an insubstantial character like Philip, although she does explain this eventually. Philip has past issues with his father primarily because of Oliver’s treatment of Philip’s mother. This is where Hare’s writing excels – the absent figure of the mother is so beautifully written and alluded to, I found her more profound than many of the characters on stage.

There’s no doubt about Hare’s writing – it’s intellectually gripping stuff. There is very little physical action and a great deal of sitting around a table saying very clever things. As an audience member you have to stay on the ball and absorb every line, because you know that no word is superfluous. Nadia Blye is one of the strongest female roles I have witnessed in new writing for a long time. Although her political views and beliefs would challenge many, her doggedness and self-assured demeanour are impressive. Interestingly, she is a supporter of the Bush government’s intervention and has served as an advisor to the President. This does not fare so well with Oliver’s ideals. In fact when in the second half he expresses his own views on the realities of war, Nadia seems almost too quickly to back down when she has fought before. Oliver is an interesting profile himself, with all the poise and wit to charm, yet also carrying a past of womanising and destroying the family. Although Pip Miller turns in a fine performance, I feel he may have been a little miscast. I would have liked to have seen him a lot more craggy with a hint of ruthlessness. He certainly didn’t exude the character of someone who could be so despised by his own son. I understand that this is the way he is said to ‘present himself’ to women, however there could have been fleeting, momentary lapses of character to add more mystery.

As such there are many places The Vertical Hour could visit, yet for some reason Hare holds back and so does Meyrick’s direction. In both the Royal Court and Sam Mendes productions, Nadia Blye is both intelligent and incredibly sexy. She needs to be both to command the attentions of the male characters. Meyrick seems to have stripped Victoria Longley’s Nadia of any innate sexual allure. Nothing in her costume or demeanour suggests the woman that so many men have fallen for. There is the distinct possibility that Oliver may be seducing his own son’s partner, yet this is never proven (however very likely). The whole matter is resolved almost immediately by Nadia. Why does Hare avoid this juicy plot turn? Even hint at it? Certainly Meyrick does not seem to want to follow that pathway, and thus deprives his audience of more meat on the bones of the story.

The most glaringly obvious weakness in the script, is the first and final scenes which bookend the real story and as such appear ‘tacked on.’ They are set within Nadia’s Yale office where she meets with two of her students, Ryan Hayward (playing Dennis Dutton) in the first and Zindzi Okenyo (Terri Scholes) in the second. These scenes show a different side to Nadia certainly, however they are definitely extraneous and do not enhance or shed light on the central plot. In fact Nadia only mentions the first encounter briefly and laughs it off, making us wonder what the real purpose of it was. The final scene is not so easily discarded as through it we learn of Nadia’s eventual fate, although it comes across a little too much like the “Six months later...” we see in films.

The Vertical Hour, forgiving its obvious inconsistencies, is a gripping and fascinating look at how Hare’s personal philosophies play out against the vast backdrop of global politics. Meyrick’s production is strong and spirited. I found the series of snippet monologues backed by brilliant music from Max Lyandvert, riveting. The performances from Longley, Miller and Stollery are well-weighted and convincing, and Hayward and Okenyo’s stars will certainly be on the rise. I’ve already found that audiences either love the production or have strong issues with it. It will be interesting to see just how much it is embraced and deconstructed.