In praise of the patriotic playwright

Ronald Harwood, the Oscar-winning writer of The Pianist and The Dresser, tells Tim Walker that he is delighted to be in demand — but never wants to be ‘fashionable’

I first came face to face with Ronald Harwood three years ago as we were waiting for our coats after the party to mark the opening of the Saatchi Gallery in the old County Hall building in London. Two disgruntled lines of people had converged and he thought I was queue-barging and I thought he was. It could have gone either way. Either a big row or the start of a friendship. Happily, it was the latter.

Harwood does charm but he also does fury. On that occasion I wasn’t quite sure which I was going to get. His plays and screenplays invariably have the same unpredictable quality, the same edginess and simmering tensions.

At 71, he ought, however, to be feeling content.