The Playgoer: The Vertical Hour

Custom Search

Friday, November 17, 2006

The Vertical Hour

Michael Riedel interviews David Hare on his latest, premiering on Broadway in a Sam Mendes production.

I'm still waiting for someone to explain the title! No doubt there'll be some wistful Act II speech that includes the phrase...

4 comments:

Ben Ellis said...

"The title comes from a term used in combat medicine to describe the moment immediately after a disaster when one can be of most help."

From the Guardian theatre feature here

Anonymous said...

I'm a former Army surgeon and I've never heard the term "vertical hour" applied in any way to combat injuries/treatment.

I think Ben may be referring to the term "golden hour" which is the first sixty minutes after the occurrence of major multi-system trauma. This term derives from the lessons combat surgeons learned in Vietnam. If the appropriate treatment were rendered to wounded soldiers within that first critical hour, the soldier's chances of survival, even with devastating wounds, were significantly increased.

Anonymous said...

http://www.whatsonstage.com/dforum/download_thread.php?site=whatsonstagecom&bn=whatsonstagecom_plays&thread=1164968448&first=1165570050&last=1163247949

Anonymous said...

This is a shot in the dark, but I have a premium seat for tonight's performance Orch K 105 Just asking what I paid for it: $250 Takers? email me at m.giorgio@att.net then we'll trade phone numbers and I'll bring it to either the theatre or meet you elsewhere in the city.