Stoppard

[Someone in a tree]

So I have now seen a grand total of two, Jumpers and Travesties.

Even though I liked them both I felt a bit worn out by the end. The combination of philosophy and comedy didn't sit greatly together and I would of liked a slower pace so I could muse on the philosophical aspects.

Are his plays all like this? I'm tempted to try for Rush Tickets for R&G are Dead or should I try for one his later plays such as Arcadia?

[Deleted]

Arcadia is, I firmly believe, his finest play. Indeed, the more I see of his other work, the more I'm convinced Arcadia was a fluke. It doesn't shy away from blathering about intellectual topics, but he manages to do it in a way that doesn't leave the audience behind while telling a great story at the same time.

You could try Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. I found it quite accessible when I first saw it as a teen, and if you can get a cheap ticket while there's a production on then what have you to lose?

[mallardo]

I would say Arcadia is Stoppard's masterpiece but the play that's least like Stoppard and most like other people's plays - although not entirely, there's a trick - is The Real Thing. But you might have a wait before that comes around again. I would certainly recommend R&G at the old Vic, it's a great production, although it's another of his existential comedies.

[bordeaux]

Arcadia is the best, the one where he most brilliantly integrates ideas, comedy, character, emotion (a gradually developing and convincing love story - not many of them on the modern stage) and structure/plotting. The Real Thing is very good too, though the portrayal of the committed dramatist is a bit of a caricature - it is perfectly possible to be a left-wing playwright and care about language. Professional Foul, the late 70s TV play is also a great piece of work, but for some reason it's not available on DVD; it's the one about British academics going to a conference in Czechoslovakia and getting involved with dissidents and the English football team. The one I'd like to see which has never had a revival as far as I can make out is Night and Day about the press in the late 70s. Ripe for a Menier hit, I'd have thought. Diana Rigg and John Thaw in the original.

[Deleted]

Yes, I 4th Arcadia as not only his best but one of the best plays in the last 50 years. Funny intelligent heart breaking

[alexandra]

Mar 24, 2017 9:49:50 GMT Someone in a tree said:

So I have now seen a grand total of two, Jumpers and Travesties.

Even though I liked them both I felt a bit worn out by the end. The combination of philosophy and comedy didn't sit greatly together and I would of liked a slower pace so I could muse on the philosophical aspects.

Are his plays all like this? I'm tempted to try for Rush Tickets for R&G are Dead or should I try for one his later plays such as Arcadia?

If you read the plays first (or failing that, afterwards) you'll get a thousand times more out of them when you see them. Rightly or wrongly, that's just the way it is. I find them easy to read and very funny.

[Jan]

Just because its an important theatrical milestone you should see R&G - plus it's accessible, entertaining and not too long.

[joem]

Arcadia, The Real Thing and Rock and Roll are the three I've enjoyed most. I agree Arcadia is probably the most intelligent out of those although the problem with some of his works occurs when inteeligence outpaces accessibility. I do have a weakness for The Real Inspector Hound as well, from his short plays.

I saw Night and Day with the replacement cast, Maggie Smith (not a bad option to have on your bench) and Patrick Mower. Surprised it hasn't been revived yet.

[bordeaux]

Mar 24, 2017 12:02:54 GMT joem said:

Arcadia, The Real Thing and Rock and Roll are the three I've enjoyed most. I agree Arcadia is probably the most intelligent out of those although the problem with some of his works occurs when inteeligence outpaces accessibility. I do have a weakness for The Real Inspector Hound as well, from his short plays.

I saw Night and Day with the replacement cast, Maggie Smith (not a bad option to have on your bench) and Patrick Mower. Surprised it hasn't been revived yet.

The lack of a revival may be because technology has rendered some of the issues in the newspaper world at the end of the 70s to do with production dated. It may also be because, I seem to remember from reading it, the print unions are one of the targets, and some theatre folk might not be keen on putting on an anti-union play - even it it's only an attack on how one union abused its power.  A lot of the debate on newspaper ethics and responsibility would have a lot of contemporary relevance, though, I think.  And during the Murdoch/News of the World hearings there were a lot of articles quoting the line 'I'm with you on the freedom of the press, it's the newspapers I can't stand'. 

[martin1965]

Ha! Ive been waiting for a revival of Night and Day for ages. It had a good run in the west end and went to broadway. Surely its worth a punt drom someone?

[Someone in a tree]

Thanks everyone - I'll keep my eyes peeled for Arcadia

Is the Coast of Utopia worth dragging out? - not sure who could afford to stage it

[Deleted]

Well the NT did it last time so I nominate Chichester for the revival, when it eventually rolls around.

[peggs]

Mar 24, 2017 11:24:50 GMT alexandra said:

Mar 24, 2017 9:49:50 GMT Someone in a tree said:

If you read the plays first (or failing that, afterwards) you'll get a thousand times more out of them when you see them. Rightly or wrongly, that's just the way it is. I find them easy to read and very funny.

I studied Arcadia at school and loved it and subsequently ploughed my way through any Stoppard I could find in the library and would agree with Alexandra that a lot worked very well on the page and probably did then get more out of them. I saw the Invention of Love and was baffled, all I can really remember was a game of croquet taking place but that contains real life people so I suspect a bit of back round reading would have helped. Waited for what seemed like ages at the time for the next new play to come out and then it was Rock n Roll which I was disappointed by in advance having no interest in communism or rock music, it didn't matter, I had that initial 'what is everyone talking about' panic before relaxing and stop trying to understand everything. I find the plays always make me want to go away and find out more about topics which is no bad thing. I've never managed to get through Jumpers on the page, I rather think you might have started out with some of the harder ones so would preserve.

[joem]

Mar 24, 2017 12:36:38 GMT bordeaux said:

Mar 24, 2017 12:02:54 GMT joem said:

Arcadia, The Real Thing and Rock and Roll are the three I've enjoyed most. I agree Arcadia is probably the most intelligent out of those although the problem with some of his works occurs when inteeligence outpaces accessibility. I do have a weakness for The Real Inspector Hound as well, from his short plays.

I saw Night and Day with the replacement cast, Maggie Smith (not a bad option to have on your bench) and Patrick Mower. Surprised it hasn't been revived yet.

The lack of a revival may be because technology has rendered some of the issues in the newspaper world at the end of the 70s to do with production dated. It may also be because, I seem to remember from reading it, the print unions are one of the targets, and some theatre folk might not be keen on putting on an anti-union play - even it it's only an attack on how one union abused its power.  A lot of the debate on newspaper ethics and responsibility would have a lot of contemporary relevance, though, I think.  And during the Murdoch/News of the World hearings there were a lot of articles quoting the line 'I'm with you on the freedom of the press, it's the newspapers I can't stand'. 

Could well be. Might explain why Pravda isn't being revived too.

But syphilis isn't really a burning issue today and we get loads of revivals of Ghosts. I think generally speaking theatre audiences understand that plays are written for their times and such relevance as there is to our times has to be found or imposed on a classic. Perhaps we have to wait for more historical perspective for these plays to be liberated from the stigma of irrelevance.

[bordeaux]

Mar 24, 2017 13:33:07 GMT joem said:

Mar 24, 2017 12:36:38 GMT bordeaux said:

The lack of a revival may be because technology has rendered some of the issues in the newspaper world at the end of the 70s to do with production dated. It may also be because, I seem to remember from reading it, the print unions are one of the targets, and some theatre folk might not be keen on putting on an anti-union play - even it it's only an attack on how one union abused its power.  A lot of the debate on newspaper ethics and responsibility would have a lot of contemporary relevance, though, I think.  And during the Murdoch/News of the World hearings there were a lot of articles quoting the line 'I'm with you on the freedom of the press, it's the newspapers I can't stand'. 

Could well be. Might explain why Pravda isn't being revived too.

But syphilis isn't really a burning issue today and we get loads of revivals of Ghosts. I think generally speaking theatre audiences understand that plays are written for their times and such relevance as there is to our times has to be found or imposed on a classic. Perhaps we have to wait for more historical perspective for these plays to be liberated from the stigma of irrelevance.

True enough - though it might mean that syphilis is a more successful metaphor than whatever shenanigans the unions were involved in involving signing in to work in the late 70s.  But you're right about historical perspective.  I like that Alan Bennett phrase 'that remotest of periods, the recent past'.  Sometimes when I am watching a revival of a 70s play, say, the sexism jars whereas one just accepts 19th or 17th century attitudes in those plays as being understandable.

[lynette]

Arcadia is a super play.
I like The Invention of Love which is about the poet Houseman and homosexuality, the academic world and a lot more.
The Real Inspector Hound will always float my boat

I think that the current production of Travesties really does revive this play and Tom Hollander brings out the humanity in it. One I really like is a tv play, Professional Foul. Might be dated as it is about the block on people in old Soviet Russia. But  a sensitive revival might be timely. It has one of the best 'riffs' on football ever, a reporter sending his copy down the phone. V v funny.

[Jon]

The Invention of Love I'm surprised hasn't been revived yet, I'd like to see Jumpers revived again or The Coast of Utopia although I suspect the latter costs far too much to be restaged

[martin1965]

Mar 24, 2017 12:46:20 GMT Someone in a tree said:

Thanks everyone - I'll keep my eyes peeled for Arcadia

Is the Coast of Utopia worth dragging out? - not sure who could afford to stage it

I saw it at the NT on a saturday trilogy and thought it was superb! Wasnt surprised when it swept the Tonys a couple of years later tho apparently Stopppard revised it for that production.
Jumpers? Yea please SRB revival was 2003 so its due.

[Deleted]

They should revive 'Where There's Life'. Loved the theme tune.

[bordeaux]

Mar 24, 2017 18:01:52 GMT martin1965 said:

Mar 24, 2017 12:46:20 GMT Someone in a tree said:

Thanks everyone - I'll keep my eyes peeled for Arcadia

Is the Coast of Utopia worth dragging out? - not sure who could afford to stage it

I saw it at the NT on a saturday trilogy and thought it was superb! Wasnt surprised when it swept the Tonys a couple of years later tho apparently Stopppard revised it for that production.
Jumpers? Yea please SRB revival was 2003 so its due.

I certainly enjoyed the Coast of Utopia but remember it getting respectful rather than rave reviews, whereas the New York production got raves - somehow the director and/or Stoppard had done something to it in the meantime.

[lynette]

Coast of Utopia wasn't good as three plays. Would have been better tightened up. Was it three in NY? Maybe they like a marathon.

[Someone in a tree]

Thanks for tip of R&G are dead, I really liked it. Much 'calmer' than Jumpers and Travesties. Faith restored and I'm now eager to try others I'm now hoping for Arcadia

[johng]

Professional Foul can be found on Youtube.

[edmundokeano]

My first Stoppard was The Hard Problem.... eek!

[peggs]

Apr 28, 2017 7:13:35 GMT Someone in a tree said:

Thanks for tip of R&G are dead, I really liked it. Much 'calmer' than Jumpers and Travesties. Faith restored and I'm now eager to try others I'm now hoping for Arcadia

Glad you liked it, I think the two your saw first are some of the more frantic, running around, slightly mad (someone with a better grasp of words could put that much more eloquently I'm sure) of his plays I think so you probably jumped in feet first so to speak. Mmmm Arcadia, I do love that play.