Beat the Devil Audiobook By David Hare, Donald Katz - Introduction cover art

Beat the Devil

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Beat the Devil

By: David Hare, Donald Katz - Introduction
Narrated by: David Hare
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In the spring of 2020, as the world grappled with the deepening coronavirus pandemic, acclaimed British screenwriter and playwright David Hare was struck down by the virus himself.

With brutal honesty, sharp humor, and his trademark insight, the renowned writer of modern classics like Skylight and Plenty brings us into his own experience battling the bizarre and terrifying symptoms of Covid-19. But Hare's masterful storytelling transforms his personal odyssey into a universal reckoning on life's fragility and preciousness–and the shared trauma we must grapple with in the virus’s aftermath.

Originally premiered at the Bridge Theatre in London in August 2020, this searing monologue was the first production to proudly reopen the West End to theatergoers after lockdown. Now, this powerful solo performance comes to Audible with a special introduction from Audible Founder Don Katz, allowing listeners to intimately experience one of our era's preeminent creative voices as he ruminates on mortality, resilience, and love.

Audio includes an exclusive interview with Don Katz and David Hare at the end of the program.

©2024 David Hare (P)2024 AO Media, LLC Editors Select Entertainment & Performing Arts Witty Thought-Provoking

Interview: "Beat the Devil" is an unforgettable one-man play about surviving COVID-19

Beat the Devil
'I've always been concerned to write about the line between necessary and unnecessary suffering.'
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  • Beat the Devil
  • 'I've always been concerned to write about the line between necessary and unnecessary suffering.'

Get a glimpse of the author in the studio

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About the Writer and Performer

David Hare is a playwright and filmmaker. He has written over thirty stage plays which include Plenty, Pravda (with Howard Brenton), The Secret Rapture, Racing Demon, Skylight, Amy’s View, The Blue Room, Via Dolorosa, Stuff Happens, The Absence of War, The Judas Kiss, and Straight Line Crazy. For film and television he has written over twenty-five screenplays which include The White Crow, Licking Hitler, Dreams of Leaving, Saigon: Year of the Cat, Wetherby, Damage, The Hours, The Reader, Denial, and The Worricker Trilogy: Page Eight, Turks & Caicos, and Salting the Battlefield. In a millennial poll of the greatest plays of the 20th century, five of the top 100 were his.

About the Executive Producer

Don Katz is the founder of Audible, the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling that currently delivers 4 billion hours of audiobooks and Audible Original programs to listeners in 180 countries, in 47 languages. Audible’s catalog has grown from 3,000 titles in 1999, when Audible went public on NASDAQ, to more than 900,000 today. Audible listeners download an average of twenty audiobooks per year, confirming Don’s originating belief that Audible would become a daily habit. That habituation in turn created one of the highest-growth and most profitable business models in media history.
Audible commercialized the first digital audio device in 1997, four years before the introduction of the iPod. Early on, Audible created and marketed two Audible Originals—one a weekly program hosted by Robin Williams—five years before the term "podcast" entered the lexicon. More than 600,000 actors, writers, directors, and producers have worked directly with Audible over the past five years, creating the intimate "Audible aesthetic" that Don imagined and described from the company’s founding. In 2016, Don founded Audible Theater, which quickly became a distinguished element of the New York and global English language theater communities.
Since 2007, when Don directed Audible’s relocation of its global headquarters to Newark, New Jersey, programmatic social and economic innovations focused on "scalable, replicable, and transferable" efforts to redress urban equality have defined Audible’s public impact purposes. Audible programs spawned under Don’s leadership include Newark Venture Partners, which Don founded to plant "little Audibles" to advance Newark’s comeback story; the Audible Scholars internship program; the COVID food crisis response effort Newark Working Kitchens; and Live Local, which subsidizes Audible employees moving to Newark.
In 2008, Audible became an independent subsidiary of Amazon, retaining its own brand, business model, culture, and People Principles.
Recognized as one of America’s Top 25 Disruptive Leaders by Living Cities for his work on behalf of urban transformation, Don was named New Jersey’s most influential tech leader by ROI-NJ in 2021. He was the recipient of a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award in 2013. For his leadership and founding vision for Audible, he was honored by both PEN America and Gotham Film & Media Institute in 2022. He recently received the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award from New York University. Later in 2024, Don will be inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame for his work in Newark and New Jersey.
Before founding Audible in 1995, Don was a journalist and author for 20 years, writing five books and serving as contributing editor at Rolling Stone, Outside, Esquire, and other publications. His work won an Overseas Press Club Award and a National Magazine Award, and his book Home Fires was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. His two books about businesses— The Big Store: Inside the Crisis and Revolution at Sears (winner of The Heartland Prize for Non-Fiction) and Just Do It: The Nike Spirit in the Corporate World— were both New York Times bestsellers.
Don has served as the founding board member of Uncommon Schools and is on the board of the New America Foundation. Don graduated from New York University, where he studied with novelist Ralph Ellison. He also holds an MSc Econ from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Engaging Storytelling • Personal Covid Experience • Impeccable Narration • Effective Humor • Insightful Commentary
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
This was a story about the recent COVID pandemic and living through getting the disease. This is only 45 minutes but manages to talk about the science and politics of the time while also adding in the writers personal experience.

Very relevant to current times

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Very well written, provocative, factual, heartfelt, acerbic, account of severe Covid 19 illness and mental and physical recovery.

Well written cut to the chase Covid account

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I found this not only interesting but entertaining. I found how lucky I was to not have Covid to the extent that David experienced.

Wonderful

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It was excellent and now I want to read and see everything David Hare has done. I wish I knew someone to discuss him with and intelligent books in general.

My first experience with David Hare

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There were moments when we really got to see into his experience. Prior to this story I had not heard anyone detail what their Covid experience was.

It was good to hear how Covid was handled in other countries.

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Enjoyed everything he was so articulate and knowledgeable. I am from the States and could identify with the entire London experience. I want to explore the other plays he has written

The author he was suburb

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If you are having a bad day or feeling low this will help you out, the anatomy of Covid was a so complicated, we wonder a lot of things but ultimately in many ways we move forward, and if you are having problems or going through a difficult time this Audio will warm your heart and make you feel a bit better

Love this one don’t miss this out

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Contextually vivid and interesting for those who wish to understand the British experience of COVID-19. I have a friend who was a nurse at the time in England and the descriptions she made match those of the author.

An intimate experience shared and clearly understood by the listener

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Covid is so dated and this story wasn’t a unique perspective didn’t add anything new. It was free and a quick listen but nothing I’d recommend or listen to again.

Don’t waste your time

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I hear people say are you better off today than 4 years ago. There is this collective amnesia of one of the most horrific events to hit the world, and the bumbling incompetence of some of our country’s leaders (in my case Trump) to handle this. Ohh I remember clearly the confusion of the populations, and the lack of leadership making Covid in the USA a disaster. So much to learn from to prepare and prevent the next chaotic possibility.
Thank you Audible and David Hare for this wonderfully illuminating work of art. 🖼️

Excellent reminder of the horror of Covid

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