LONDON - Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Sir David Hare remembers the time he spent in the company of Rudolf Nureyev with scant affection. It was during the 1960s, once the celebrated ballet dancer's defection from the Soviet Union had led to a partnership with Margot Fonteyn at the Royal Ballet in London's Covent Garden.

Hare was studying at Cambridge University and would stay at a friend's country house. The friend's mother was Russian and Hare's visits would on occasion overlap with Nureyev's.