The Tom Stoppard Theatre is officially unveiled in the West End

Sonia Friedman has paid tribute to Tom Stoppard as the Duke of York’s Theatre has been renamed the Tom Stoppard Theatre.

Speaking at the unveiling, Friedman said the renaming recognised Stoppard’s contribution to British theatre and his journey from refugee to one of the country’s leading playwrights.

Born Tomáš Sträussler in Czechoslovakia, Stoppard fled with his family from the Nazis and later from the war in Asia. Much of his family was murdered by the Nazis. Britain became his home and he became a British citizen.

“That journey, from a refugee child to one of the defining voices of British culture, is part of what makes the naming of this theatre so meaningful,” Friedman said.

Stoppard’s career spanned more than six decades, with plays including Jumpers, Travesties, Arcadia, Rock ’n’ Roll and Leopoldstadt. He was also an advocate for freedom of speech and supported writers, artists and dissidents internationally.

Friedman produced five of his plays, including multiple productions of Jumpers, Travesties, Rock ’n’ Roll and Arcadia, as well as Leopoldstadt, which was Stoppard’s final play.

Her office was based at the Duke of York’s Theatre for several years, during which Stoppard would regularly visit without warning.

“He would simply text: ‘I’m downstairs. Time for a coffee,’” Friedman recalled. “I would always drop everything to see him.”

She said they would meet at Caffè Nero across the road, where they would smoke, drink coffee and discuss theatre, politics, people, family and her personal life.

The theatre already has a connection with Stoppard’s work. Artist Descending a Staircase, Rock ’n’ Rolland Arcadia have all played there, with Friedman’s production of Arcadia opening at the venue in 2009. The production has now returned to the theatre.

“It already felt like one of Tom’s theatrical homes,” Friedman said. “Now it bears his name.”

Friedman also referred to the renaming of the Comedy Theatre as the Harold Pinter Theatre. She recalled Stoppard joking, when Pinter suggested the theatre should be named after him: “Have you thought, instead, of changing your name to Harold Comedy?”

She said that theatres hold the history of the writers, performers and audiences who have passed through them, adding that names help preserve that history.

“A name does not simply preserve a legacy. It keeps that legacy alive,” she said.

The West End has also named a theatre after composer Stephen Sondheim, with Friedman saying it was “entirely right” that Stoppard should now stand alongside Pinter and Sondheim.

Friedman also announced that Stoppard’s widow, Sabrina Stoppard, is establishing a bursary for emerging playwrights. Each year, a selected writer will be given use of a cottage in Hampshire where Stoppard himself wrote.

Friedman rented the cottage for eight years after Stoppard and Sabrina moved to Dorset and also made it available to other playwrights.

Sabrina Stoppard hopes established playwrights will become involved as mentors, continuing Tom Stoppard’s support for emerging writers.

“It feels completely true to him: not simply preserving his memory, but allowing his generosity to continue,” Friedman said.

Reflecting on Leopoldstadt, Friedman said the production had been “one of the most important experiences of my life”. The play explored family, identity, memory and loss, drawing on Stoppard’s family history.

Friedman said she had proposed naming the theatre after Stoppard to ATG, writing: “If Britain cannot name a theatre after Tom Stoppard, it is difficult to imagine what name would ever do justice to our industry.”

She thanked ATG, SFP and Stoppard’s family for supporting the renaming.

“Tom does not need a theatre named after him in order to be remembered,” she said. “His plays will ensure that. They will be read, performed, rediscovered and argued about long after all of us have gone.”

“But this name makes a statement now. It says clearly that Tom – and the work he gave us – is a permanent and essential part of British culture.”

Friedman concluded: “Tom gave us wit, ideas, humanity and some of the most beautiful writing ever put on a stage. He gave me some of the greatest experiences of my professional life – and some of the happiest and most precious memories of my personal one.

“I loved him.

“I miss him.”