Rock’n'Roll, Tom Stoppard
Occasionally, one can look ahead in to the near future and make a guess that a play will be good.
I booked ticket’s for Stoppard’s first play for the Royal Court, Rock’n’Roll, directed by Trevor Nunn, back in January.
£7.50 last night in row C in the middle and a bargain.
Occasionally, one can sit in a play and have the feeling, I am watching a ‘great’ play.
I say ‘great’ as Rock’n’Roll touches and interweaves many themes to instil a feeling of the epic and of the intimate, in the way great plays do.
To me, this is Stoppard’s best since Arcadia and it shares three things (amongst others) in common, that I find fascinating.
It has a love story (actually several) and celebrates the human spirit of love.
It has a very clever young girl in it.
It has a recluse (possible genius) in Syd Barratt.
I’m not sure the precocious young girl character is exactly relevant, but I liked the connection. Some times some characteristics skip a generation, some times ideas are lost until they find the right time and place to reappear, but if they are great they will reappear (a riff on the theme from Arcadia) and even sometimes characters will skip a few plays (is Alice, a Thomasina for our generation?) and reappear? [Alice has a maternal attitude to Syd cf Arcadia]
Perhaps, I shouldn’t get so hung up on the pretty young actresses (boys will be boys), although Alive Eve does well with her parts (she doubles up a character, another Stoppard device) and isn’t outshone by some extremely good acting particularly from Rufus Sewell (Jan), Brian Cox (Max) and Sinead Cusack (Eleanor/Esme). [Critics have noted a slow pace on the night they saw it, I think it has probably sharpened since then and will sharpen further by the time it hits the West-end – I certainly wasn’t bored or fidgety]
The critics haven’t the space to be very insightful, in my humble opinion, it is a large and complex work and as one critic says “over-stuffed” but it wouldn’t be Stoppard if it wasn’t. Michael Billington [here] and Susannah Clapp [here] have perhaps the best insight and John Peter (Sunday Times, not avail on-line) the best sum up.
Without over simplifying it, I think most people have sussed that the major theme of the play, is in the title
Rock’n’Roll
[as an aside, It’s worth noting that many great plays seem to sum up their entire themes in the title somehow: Death of a Salesman, A Street Car Name Desire…]
I would like to know Stoppard’s experience of gigs because he touches on spirit of the greatest of gigs (those that start a revolution?) and drags it into the theatre.
I’m still reverberating from my Radiohead experience (see earlier post).
And with that notion, I can see why a whole country’s system can be undone by the expression and freedom as expressed through Rock’n’Roll – and how it can thread through our lives (as it does the characters) binding them in days and nights of love and war.
So, Rock’n’Roll is about Rock’n’Roll.
This umbrellas many other themes and the source for much of this is in the letters and work of Vaclav Havel.
The former President of Czechoslovakia and celebrated writer in his own right, saw it on the first night (along with many other famous people) and said:
“I think this is a wonderful play. The performances are very subtle, it’s cleverly written and it works very well on the stage. I enjoyed it immensely.”
A good job too.
And so, Stoppard shows us how a love for Rock’n’Roll and a belief in the band the Plastic People of the Universe can lead to Charter 77 and a revolution.
And on the way riffs upon
Sappho; fragments, translations, the structure of poetry, the structure of Stoppard’s own play (vs Utopia)
How history repeats itself, or not; Sappho, doubling of characters, the learning of Greek, the studying of Sappho, the falling in love (the repetition of themes of Stoppard’s other plays)
Revolution; communism and the left vs. all comers – see Havel, Thatcher, 1968
Freedom; the responsibility which comes with it, the erosion of freedom,
“This place has lost its nerve. They put something in the water since you were here. It’s a democracy of obedience.” The past vs today, how to fight for freedom
Materialism; also see Havel, Thatcher
Vinyl; if you think the ipod is the only alternative, you won’t get this
And love;
For what would Rock’nRoll be, if not for love
So, of course, it’s about more than Rock’n’Roll, it’s about being human.
*
PS I have found a detailed and good article with Stoppard in the Guardian on this play. Much better than the short critic reviews. Go here.
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One Response to “Rock’n'Roll, Tom Stoppard”
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About me
I'm a playwright and investment analyst. I have a broad range of interests: food, gardening, innovation & intellectual property, sustainability, architecture & design, writing and the arts. I sit on the board of Talawa Theatre Company and advise a CIS investment trust on socially responsible investments.
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Recent Work
Recent plays include, for theatre: Nakamitsu, Yellow Gentlemen, Lost in Peru, Lemon Love. For radio: Places in Between (R4), Patent Breaking Life Saving (WS).
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Nakamitsu
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Yellow Gentlemen
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Hi Benjamin,
Nice review. I remember you from Bedales.
I’m going to see Rock’n'Roll Tonight.
Email me at pc68@hotmail.com
Kind regards,
Patrick