Ron Hart

Ron Hart died on September 14th. I can't say I knew him very well, but I did once chair a reading for one of his last plays with us. He'll probably be most remembered in the theatrical world for Lunch Girls, which was a joint winner of the Verity Bargate award in 1982. Peter Thompson did know him, though, and penned this tribute. He emailed this to the group the day after he was told, and I think it deserves to be given some kind of permanence here on the web.

"I have just heard from his son Jonathan that Ron Hart died yesterday, just short of his 80th birthday. He was a member of Player-Playrights for many years and at the time of joining he was already a successful playwright (LUNCH GIRLS is still being produced all over the world, as is his play MEN ON FIRE about Mahler). He had many styles of writing. He brought us at least one farce, many comedies, one surreal exercise, a thriller which went straight into our Showcase and a poignant poem about a young army officer’s boots. All of these were read with enthusiasm at our Monday nights and they were instructive and hugely entertaining.

We were in the process of trying to get his thriller BOYS CLUB into production when his health gave way over a year ago and he has been housebound and increasingly frail ever since, but still intellectually vigorous. He was an interesting and witty person, with a lively mind, who made a major contribution to our activities. He will be sadly missed and our sympathies go to his widow Carmel Hart, to Jonathan and to the rest of the family".