Rock 'n' Roll (play)

Infobox Play
name = Rock 'n' Roll


image_size =
caption = Poster for the production at the Duke of York's Theatre
writer = Tom Stoppard
chorus =
characters = Jan
Max
Eleanor
Esme
Interrogator
Nigel
Ferdinand
Young Esme
Alice
Gillian
Magda
Deirdre
Piper
Police Officer 1
Stephen
Milan
Police Officer 2
Jaroslav
Lenka
Candida
mute =
setting = Prague, Czechoslovakia and Cambridge, England from 1968 to 1990
date of premiere = 3 June 2006
country of Origin = England
original language = English
series =
subject =
genre =
web =
playbill_event = 12403
ibdb_id = 460598

"Rock 'n' Roll" is a play by Czech-born British playwright Tom Stoppard that premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2006.

Plot Summary

The play is concerned with the significance of rock and roll in the emergence of the democratic movement in Eastern Bloc Czechoslovakia between the Prague Spring of 1968 and the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Taking place at Cambridge University, England and in Prague, the play contrasts the attitudes of a young Czech Ph.D student and rock music fan who becomes appalled by the repressive regime in his home country with those of his British Marxist professor who unrepentantly continues to believe in the Soviet ideal.

The play takes place over several decades from the late 1960s until 1990, ending with a concert given by The Rolling Stones that year in Prague. Recurrent references are made to a glimpse by one of the main characters of the young Syd Barrett performing "Golden Hair". Barrett's physical and mental decline also plays a role in the drama (Barrett in fact died during the play's run). The underground Czech group The Plastic People of the Universe are held up as an ideal of resistance to Communism by another character. The poetry of Sappho is another recurrent motif; its pagan sensualism is implicitly compared with the anarchic erotic force of Rock music.

One of the characters, a Czech writer, is named Ferdinand as an homage to Vaclav Havel. Havel wrote three plays with a protagonist named Ferdinand Vanӗk, a stand-in for Havel himself. These plays were distributed by samisdat and became a symbol of the resistance. A number of Havel's friends then wrote their own plays with Ferdinand Vanӗk. [Goetz-Stankiewicz, Marketa, "The Vanӗk Plays", 1987, University of British Columbia Press] Stoppard continues in that tradition.

This play is one of several works in Stoppard's "oeuvre" concerned with artistic dissent against the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia: "Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth" also concerns this, and does "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" and "Professional Foul".

Original Production

The original production was staged at the Royal Court Theatre and ran from June 3 until July 15 2006. It then transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre. The production was directed by Trevor Nunn and featured the following cast:
*Jan - Rufus Sewell
*Max - Brian Cox
*Eleanor, Esme - Sinead Cusack
*Interrogator, Nigel - Anthony Calf
*Ferdinand - Peter Sullivan
*Young Esme, Alice - Alice Eve
*Gillian, Magda, Deirdre - Miranda Colchester
*Piper, Police Officer 1, Stephen - Edward Hogg
*Milan, Police Officer 2, Jaroslav - Martin Chamberlain
*Lenka - Nicole Ansari
*Candida - Louise Bangay

Taking over from the principal actors mid-run were:
*Jan - Dominic West
*Max - David Calder
*Eleanor, Esme - Emma Fielding

The production closed on February 25th, 2007 at the Duke of York's Theatre before an announced transfer to Broadway in the autumn of 2007.

The premiere of the play was attended by first president of the post-Communist Czech Republic and leading figure of the Velvet Revolution, Václav Havel (a friend of Stoppard's) and rock star Mick Jagger, whose band, The Rolling Stones features in the final scene of the play (and who has also previously worked with Stoppard, having produced the film "Enigma", for which Stoppard wrote the screenplay, and who, along with his production company Jagged Films, has "approached" Stoppard "for the movie rights" to the play "Rock 'n' Roll". [http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/jagger%20set%20to%20team%20up%20with%20stoppard_1000015 "Jagger Set to Team Up with Stoppard"] , "contactmusic.com", accessed 28 April 2007.]

Prague Production

The play premiered in Prague's historic National Theatre (Narodni Divadlo) in February 2007. It features an opening performance by The Plastic People of the Universe.

New York Production

A Broadway run of the play commenced in previews on October 19, 2007 and opened on November 4, 2007 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Several of the original cast members - including Sewell, Cox and Cusack - appear in the production that is directed by Trevor Nunn. The production had a strictly limited run and closed on 9 March 2008.

Other Productions

The San Francisco production, directed by Carey Perloff, opened at the American Conservatory Theatre on 17 September 2008. [http://www.act-sf.org/089/rocknroll/index.html] The first UK production of the play outside London will be at the Library Theatre in Manchester from 13 February to 14 March 2009.

ee also

*Plastic People of the Universe
*Charter 77
*Václav Havel
*The Velvet Underground

Notes

Bibliography

*Eno, Brian, and Mark Edwards. [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14933-2214726,00.html "Czechs and Thugs and Rock’n’Roll"] . "The Times" 11 June 2006. Accessed 28 April 2007. ["Tom Stoppard’s new play centres on the pop band whose arrest launched a human-rights movement. He discusses how artists change the world."]
* [http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/jagger%20set%20to%20team%20up%20with%20stoppard_1000015 "Jagger Set to Team Up with Stoppard"] . "contactmusic.com". Accessed 28 April 2007.
*Lawson, Mark. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frontrow/ram/programmes/frontrow_20060529.ram Radio interview with Tom Stoppard] . "Front Row", BBC Radio 4, May 29, 2006, RealAudio (30 mins.). Accessed 28 April 2007. (Listed on [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frontrow/editors_pick.shtml Arts and Drama: Front Row] , BBC Radio 4. Accessed 28 April 2007.)
*Mastalir, Linda. [http://www.radio.cz/en/article/80581 "Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll"] . "Radio Prague", Current Affairs. Transcript and audio file of a report on the play broadcast on Radio Prague on 28 June 2006. Accessed 28 April 2007.