Full Length, Drama Characters: 3 male, 2 female Unit Sets David Hare's new play The Vertical Hour is a thought-provoking exploration of how the political can sometimes intersect, collide with and ultimately dismantle the personal. While the play is positively brimming with cogent and fascinating arguments involving the current political situation, the production only fitfully succeeds in bringing this story to life. Hare fills The Vertical Hour with several of these ethical and philosophical quandaries that serve not only as dramatic interplay between the three main characters, but, also metaphorically as the basis for several of the arguments politicians and intellectuals are having these days concerning the role that America and the West have taken in Iraq, the Middle East and beyond.