Tom Stoppardoften described as the greatest British playwright of this generation, he lived both a remarkable life and a remarkable career.
Born in Czechoslovakia in 1937, his family fled to Singapore when the Nazis invaded. When Japan threatened their new home, his mother took him and his brother to India. His father remained in Singapore but died when the ship he was on sank. His mother later married a British officer and the family moved to England, where young Stoppard took his stepfather's surname and “put on Englishness like a coat,” as he later said.
Stoppard quickly became known for his smart, witty and intellectually curious work, winning three Olivier Awards, five Tony Awards and an Oscar (for Shakespeare in Love). In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II even knighted him for his contribution to the theater.
From Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in 1966 to his latest full-length play, Leopoldstadt, in 2020, Stoppard has produced a body of work that would be the envy of many countries, let alone one writer.
Below are some of Stoppard's most important plays, as observed by Times critics:
2022 Broadway production of Leopoldstadt with a 1924 family scene.
(John Marcus)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966)
After working as a journalist, Stoppard got his breakthrough when this absurdist romp debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe. Times theater critic Charles McNulty reviewed the 2013 products at the Old Globe Shakespeare Festival in San Diego, describing it as “a metafarcical romp (to coin a genre) in which Hamlet is seen through the oblique perspective of the prince's twin friends, sent by Gertrude and Claudius to spy on him in this Elsinore castle of murder, adultery and occult intrigue… Stoppard's fertile wit keeps this three-act drama moving forward big tension, subtle pathos, combined with the verbal sophistication of the playwright, prevent the play from degenerating into a collegiate vaudeville.” In 1990, Stoppard himself directed a film version starring Gary Oldman and Tim Roth.
Jumpers (1972)
This satire is set in an alternate universe in which British astronauts have landed on the moon and “radical liberals” have taken over the government. The film premiered at London's Old Vic Hotel, starring Michael Hordern and Diana Rigg. Two years later, Times theater critic Dan Sullivan reviewed a production of it at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. “Stoppard's new play cannot be hung on one of those pre-printed tags that theater critics carry in their pockets for easy marking,” he wrote. “You might call it a 'Metaphysical Parody with an Acrobatic Prelude', or you might not. The only thing you can say about it overall is that it's very bright and very funny, and sometimes quite touching.”
Travesties (1974)
The Royal Shakespeare Company staged the first production at the Aldwych Theater in London, starring John Wood, John Hurt, Thom Bell and Frank Windsor. Stoppard was fascinated by the idea that James Joyce, Vladimir Lenin and the Dadaist poet Tristan Tzara were living in Zurich in 1917. He placed these zeitgeist figures into the orbit of a more modest historical figure named Henry Carr, who appeared in Joyce's Ulysses. Sullivan of The Times praised the 1975 New York production, calling it “dazzling” and wondering whether Broadway audiences could keep up with it. “Like Stoppard’s last play, Jumpers (which had little success here), it is vaudeville in which the tongue performs the tricks as well as the actors,” Sullivan wrote. “And do the stunts as well as in Travesties”, John Wood [as Carr]the playwright’s language must be quite perfect.”
The Real Thing (1982)
Felicity Kendal and Roger Rees star in Stoppard's very personal exploration of love and marriage, truth and honesty. The playwright significantly revised the script for his Broadway play, starring Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons and directed by Mike Nichols, to great success. Linda Pearl and Michael Gross took on the roles in the 1986 production in Los Angeles at the Dolittle Theater. “Without spoiling the surprises, this reviewer can say that not every scene in The Real Thing is what it seems, including the first.” wrote Sullivan. “Stoppard's characters are theater people, professional stage managers, and some of these scenes are included in the play… The Real Thing has wit, suspense and characters you care about… If you like plays written in complete sentences, you'll love The Real Thing.”
Arcadia (1993)
Moving between the 19th century and the present, Stoddard combined tragedy and comedy with a healthy dose of science and mathematics. The play opened at the Royal National Theater in London under the direction of Trevor Nunn and the cast included Rufus Sewell, Felicity Kendal, Bill Nighy and Emma Fielding. Two years later, in New York, Nunn directed a new cast that included Billy Crudup, Blair Brown, Victor Garber as Bernard, Robert Sean Leonard, Jennifer Dundas and Paul Giamatti in his Broadway debut. “Arcadia is a great play not because it seamlessly combines serious ideas and the keen pleasure of a literary detective story,” Times critic Laurie Wiener wrote: review of the 1997 production of The Mark Taper Forum directed by Robert Egan. “This is a great play because at the end Tom Stoppard touches the ineffable, just as his heroine touches genius.”
The Invention of Love (1997)
To create this portrait of poet A.E. Housman, Stoppard again turned to historical figures. The play premiered at the Royal National Theater in London, where Houseman was played by old man John Wood and young man Paul Rees. Directed by Richard Eyre. The play opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater in 2001 under the direction of Jack O'Brien. “Stoppard wrote an essentially undramatic dreamscape” wrote Times critic Michael Phillips” The recently deceased Houseman (Richard Easton), about to cross the River Styx, evaluates his reclusive life and his enormous unrequited love for the athlete Moses Jackson (David Harbour), his fellow Oxford student. Along the way, the elder Houseman encounters himself (Robert Sean Leonard). At the end of the first act there is a long scene involving two Housemans. As they discuss the intricacies and textual flaws of the classic they love as much as life itself, Stoppard's playfulness is tinged with regret; an older man cannot prevent the grief of a younger man.”
Shore of Utopia (2002)
This trilogy of plays, The Voyage, Shipwreck, and Salvation, explores philosophical debates in 19th-century Russia. The premiere took place in the Olivier Hall of the National Theater in repertoire under the direction of Nunn. The plays made their Broadway debut directed by Jack O'Brien at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center in 2006. “A nearly eight-hour drama about the Russian intelligentsia that received mixed reviews when it premiered in London in 2002, The Coast of Utopia is not for the theatrically faint of heart.” Times critic warned McNulty. “Endurance is a prerequisite for both company and audience…Stoppard's play depicts a moment in history when thinkers and writers set out to change the direction of the future. Ideologies were conceived and immediately put into service, sometimes at the expense of the lives of the individuals they were theoretically meant to serve.” [It] dramatizes both the ebb and flow of conditioned life and the yearning for unconditional solutions to its problems.”
Rock 'n' Roll (2006)
In this drama, Stoppard turned to his Czech roots, connecting the Prague Spring of 1968 with the Velvet Revolution of 1989 through music. The play premiered at the Royal Court Theater in London, again directed by Nunn, and starring Rufus Sewell, Brian Cox and Sinead Cusack. The cast moved to Broadway in 2007. “You might want to arrive a little early and study the timeline in the lobby, which details Czechoslovakia's turbulent political history from 1968 to 1990 and key events in the rock scene of that era.” wrote reviewer F. Kathleen Foley produced by Open Fist 2010. “Read them carefully. Otherwise, your head just might explode at some point during this Los Angeles premiere, which involves intimate familiarity with Czech history, the early rock scene and, oh, did we mention sapphic poetry? It's all a little showy and hard to understand – but even at his most intellectually verbose, Stoppard is simply brilliant, perhaps our greatest living playwright.”
Leopoldstadt (2020)
The final play of Stoppard's illustrious career began with the playwright learning of the plight of his Jewish ancestors after the death of his mother in 1996. It debuted at the Wyndham's Theater in London's West End but was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and debuted on Broadway in 2022 starring Davis Krumholtz and directed by Patrick Marber. The play “unfolds like a series of oil paintings magically brought to life.” wrote Times critic McNulty. “The play, which features a cast of 38, moves from turn-of-the-century Vienna, where Freud, Mahler and Schnitzler were the talk of the town, to 1924, when the scars of the First World War are clearly visible. Performed without intermission, the action moves ominously to 1938, as the Nazis ransack the homes of Jewish citizens. The play concludes in 1955, when the three surviving families are reunited. piecing together the fates of their murdered relatives… It is not only that the work reflects aspects of his personal history, it is also the masterful way in which he conveys the changing cultural spirit of Vienna in the first half of the 20th century through a single stylized conversation.”
You can find audio dramas at Los Angeles theater work “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”, “The Real Thing” and “Arcadia” on Spotify.
Many films that Stoppard wrote or co-wrote are available for streaming, including “Brazil(1985),” Turner Classic Movies, and available for rental on Apple TV and Prime Video; “Russian House” (1990), available for rent on Prime Video; “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” (1990), released on various platforms; “Empire of the Sun” (1987), released on various platforms; And “Shakespeare in Love” (1998), Paramount+ and Kanopy, as well as distribution on various platforms.
Stoppard is also, of course, a playwright whose work is a pleasure to read. Most of these plays can be found at your local public library or favorite bookstore.
