Stoppard Tom

Stoppard Tom [ Tom Straussler], (1937– ), Czech born British dramatist, who first came into prominence with the production by the National Theatre company of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1967), a play in the style of the Theatre of the Absurd in which two minor characters from Hamlet are shown as powerless spectators at the play's events. Its unexpected success, both in England and abroad—it began a long run in New York in the same year—led to the production in London of a play written earlier, Enter a Free Man (1968; NY, 1974), first seen in Hamburg in 1964. Stoppard's next play, The Real Inspector Hound (also 1968; NY, 1972), is a one-acter about two dramatic critics who get drawn into the action of a play. It was followed by two more one-act plays, After Magritte (1970; NY, 1972) and Dogg's Our Pet (1972). In Jumpers (also 1972; NY, 1974) a Professor of Moral Philosophy defends intuitive values against contemporary rationalism; while Travesties (1974; NY, 1975) is a lively debate, involving James Joyce and Lenin, on the justification for art. Produced in London by the National Theatre company and the RSC respectively, they provided supreme examples of Stoppard's astonishing verbal dexterity. A double bill, Dirty Linen and New Found Land (1976; NY, 1977), ran for four years at the Arts Theatre, and after a ‘music-drama’, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1977; NY, 1979), came Night and Day (1978; NY, 1979), his most naturalistic play to date, a debate on the freedom of the press set in a fictitious African country. He had a big success with The Real Thing (London, 1982; NY, 1984), in which an opening scene about marital infidelity turns out to be from a play, and is followed by a witty portrayal of the playwright's own relationships. Hapgood (1988), a spy thriller about a defecting Russian nuclear physicist, includes expositions on various principles of physics; while Artist Descending a Staircase (also 1988; NY, 1989) began as a radio play. He is also a notable adaptor: Mrożek's Tango (RSC, 1966); García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba (1973); Havel's Largo Desolato (1987); and, all at the National Theatre, Schnitzler's Das weite Land as Undiscovered Country (1979), his Liebelei as Dalliance (1986), Nestroy's Einen Jux will er sich machen as On the Razzle (1981), and Molnár's Play at the Castle as Rough Crossing (1984).