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Rock 'n' Roll (Stoppard)

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  5w, 6m, 9any gender (adult)

Rock 'N' Roll
by Tom Stoppard

"TRIUMPHANT. ROCK 'N' ROLL is arguably STOPPARD'S FINEST PLAY. He is a MAGICIAN, and this is a passionately acted, decades-spanning tale of love, revolution and music. Stoppard treats the characters of ROCK 'N' ROLL with a deep affection I've never e…

Rock 'n' Roll (Stoppard)

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    5w, 6m, 9any gender (adult)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Docudrama/History
Accolades
Accolades
  • Nominee: 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Play

Details

Summary
Rock 'n' Roll is an electrifying collision of the romantic and the revolutionary. It is 1968 and the world is ablaze with rebellion, accompanied by a sound track of the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. Clutching his prized collection of rock albums, Jan, a Cambridge graduate student, returns to his homeland of Czechoslovakia just as Soviet tanks roll into Prague. When security forces tighten their grip on artistic expression, Jan is inexorably drawn toward a dangerous act of dissent. Back in England, Jan's volcanic mentor, Max, faces a war of his own as his free-spirited daughter and his cancer-stricken wife attempt to break through his walls of academic and emotional obstinacy. Over the next twenty years of love, espionage, chance, and loss, the extraordinary lives of Jan and Max spin and intersect until an unexpected reunion forces them to see what is truly worth the fight.
Keywords
The Piper.
Esme: a flower child of the 60s; 16.
Jan: 29-50s;
Max: a bruiser; 51-70s.
Eleanor: also plays Esme in Act II; late 40s.
Gillian: student.
Interrogator: middle-ranking bureaucrat; youngish.
Ferdinand: 29-50s.

The characters age 22 years during the course of the play.

  • Setting Various interior and exterior settings

Media

"The remarkable thing about the play is that it touches on'so many themes, registers its lament at the erosion of freedom in our society and yet leaves you cheered by its wit, bouyancy and belief in the human'spirit." The Guardian

Licensing & Materials

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Scripts

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Authors

Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard’s most recent play, Leopoldstadt, opened at Wyndham's Theatre in 2020 and transferred to Broadway in 2022. It won multiple Awards, including an Olivier Award and Tony Award for Best Play. He wrote his first play, Enter a Free Man, whilst working as a journalist i ...

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