Tweet

Review Round-up: Stoppard’s Latest Rocks Critics

The world premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Rock 'n' Roll last night (14 June 2006, previews from 3 June) at the Royal Court garnered as much praise from the critics as it did from the star-studded first night audience (to view our exclusive Whatsonstage.com TV footage, click here).

The epic play spans the recent history of Czechoslovakia between the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution - but from the double perspective of Prague, where a rock 'n' roll band came to symbolise resistance to the regime, and the British left, represented by a Communist philosopher at Cambridge. Directed by Trevor Nunn, the play stars Brian Cox, Sinead Cusack and Rufus Sewell.

The overnight critics couldn’t fault Stoppard’s “sensational” new play, which they found both intellectual and uplifting, nor Nunn’s “excellent” premiere production with its well-pitched performances from all the leads and supporting ensemble.

Rock 'n' Roll marks the Royal Court debuts of both Stoppard and Nunn. It runs in Sloane Square, as part of the theatre’s year-long 50th anniversary season, until 15 July 2006 and then moves to the West End’s Duke of York’s Theatre for a limited season from 22 July to 24 September (See News, 18 Apr 2006).

** DON’T MISS our Whatsonstage.com Outing to Rock 'N' Roll on 10 August 2006 - including our EXCLUSIVE post-show Q&A – all for only £25!! - click here for more details! **

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph - "There is an energy, rawness and passion here one doesn't associate with the elegant and witty Stoppard, passages of unbuttoned emotion that go straight to the heart... This new piece smells, well, of sex and drugs and rock and roll. It also feels like an exceptionally personal play, for Stoppard appears to be imagining what his life might have been like had he returned to his native Czechoslovakia after the Second World War, rather than beginning a new life in England... There are some beautiful speeches from Jan in which he describes his love of England, and its robust tradition of freedom, that surely reflect Stoppard's own feelings for his adopted country. But the play sounds a note of caution. At the end, Jan is warned by a fellow Czech that England is no longer what it was, that "they've put something in the water" and it has become a "democracy of obedience"… As always in Stoppard there's a feast of ideas - as well as liberty, there are discussions on the poet Sappho and materialist theories of consciousness - but the ideas are constantly accompanied by both strong emotion and excellent jokes.” He added: “Trevor Nunn's production could do with a sharper pace and a rougher edge, but there are some tremendous performances, most notably from Rufus Sewell as the endearing, rock-addicted, and remarkably Stoppardian Jan, and Sinead Cusack, who plays both a wife and mother dying of cancer… I was tempted to end this review by saying It's only rock'n'roll but I like it. In fact, it's about much more than rock'n'roll, and I love it.”

- by Caroline Ansdell

---

** DON’T MISS our Whatsonstage.com Outing to Rock 'N' Roll on 10 August 2006 - including our EXCLUSIVE post-show Q&A – all for only £25!! - click here for more details! **

Related Content

Booking Tickets & Show Listings
	Rock 'n' Roll Listing Page

Internal Links
	Rock 'n' Roll - 15th Jun 2006 reviews