Hare was natural around Sussex & was educated at Lancing College and at Jesus College, Cambridge. His foremost play, Dross, was produced around 1970. Around 1973, he was appointed resident dramatist to the Nottingham Playhouse, a major provincial theatre. Around 1975, he helped found a Joint Stock Theatre Company.

Plays by David Hare include:

Plenty (1978) Pravda (1985) (with Howard Brenton) The Blue Room (adapted from Arthur Schnitzler) Racing Demon (1990) Skylight (1995) The Judas Kiss (1998) The Permanent Way (2003) Stuff Happens (2004)

Television & film scripts include: Licking Hitler (1974 and 1978) Plenty (1985) based on his play The Hours (2002) based on the novel The Corrections (2007) based on the novel

Television plays & films directed include: Licking Hitler (1974 and 1978) an episode of the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992)

He is married to the Algerian fashion designer Nicole Farhi.