Thanks so much for this proper assessment and eulogy for a most excellent genius who has now passed on yet hasn't really became most all his work remains for us to read or witness, as performed, containing the essence of his thoughts and conclusions about almost everything.
The news reports say he won four Tonys which he did, but like Shakespeare, in his best plays he carefully details a good bit more about how the world works like how a good mechanic can explain why a good Jaguar automobile drives the way it does. It won't necessarily make you feel any better but will definitely help you sort out the more difficult to understand parts of one's life if you pay close attention.
Just lovely, thank you Henry. You’ve nailed it. I always love that slightly “Carry On” feel he has, combined with thrilling use of scientific and philosophical theories. Like in Arcadia:
Brice: There is still the injury to his conjugal property, Mrs Chater’s…
Neither was Shaw. Moreover, early on, the review mentions Beckett without any caveat. I suspect most of the people here know Beckett was Irish, assisted his countryman Joyce, and so on. Our author didn't seem too concerned with this distinction, so I didn't see why I should be.
I wouldn't myself call Shaw an English playwright, but I understand the point people make when they consider his (and Wilde's) work as part of the English theatrical tradition.
Beckett, on the other hand, is not part of that tradition.
Certainly my favorite 20th Century playwright, and your encomium is beautiful and hits all the right notes. I will say that while it's nowhere near as good as the great plays (of which, yes, Arcadia is my favorite) I quite enjoyed Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon, and I wouldn't relegate it to completists only stature, though indeed he made the right decision to concentrate on drama.
In films he’s known for having written Shakespeare In Love, but it’s the enormous number of uncredited rewrites he did to many of the biggest blockbusters that are most astonishing. Much of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is his reworking of the existing script, improving it beyond measure (not just inserting witticisms). He also doctored (among others) The Bourne Ultimatum, Schindler’s List, Sleepy Hollow, and - beyond even his powers of rescue - Star Wars Episode 3 (Revenge of the Sith).
Thank you for this - I love Stoppard, especially his earlier writings.
One play of his which you don't mention: Every Good Boy Deserves Favour - it is hardly ever performed, for the practical reason that it requires a full orchestra on stage (Stoppard co-wrote it with Andre Previn), but it is a delight, though more directly political than most of Stoppard's work (it is an attack on the Soviet treatment of dissidents). I have been waiting for years unsuccessfully to see it staged again ...
Yes, isn't love wonderful? The wonder is often in its variety and suddenness; one can as easily love a play as a person, a writer you met for a few minutes outside a stage door as the woman you've spent forty-six years adoringly accompanying through life. Oh, yes, myriad are the kinds of love. Stoppard loved creating these insights into how we come to care about different aspects of the world from 19th Century gardens to the origins of altruism to the similarities between a cricket bat and powerful writing to the complexity of our affection for a child, a lover, a family.
In an extraordinarily lucky occurrence, I got to spend five weeks this autumn exploring three of Stoppard's plays, The Real Thing, Arcadia, and The Hard Problem, prime examples of how in his words he sought to "subsume thought and calculation into the interior of, say, a love story or a story of triumph and failure." In doing so, the webpage at the link below kept growing with more and more links to the generous interviews he gave and the many ways in which others interpreted his work. (Some of those are in the PowerPoints used as a guide for each session) I count myself lucky to have all of this material yet sad that death has stilled the flow of that marvelous 'thought and calculation"
Thanks so much for this proper assessment and eulogy for a most excellent genius who has now passed on yet hasn't really became most all his work remains for us to read or witness, as performed, containing the essence of his thoughts and conclusions about almost everything.
The news reports say he won four Tonys which he did, but like Shakespeare, in his best plays he carefully details a good bit more about how the world works like how a good mechanic can explain why a good Jaguar automobile drives the way it does. It won't necessarily make you feel any better but will definitely help you sort out the more difficult to understand parts of one's life if you pay close attention.
The last scene of Arcadia was mesmerising. The most perfect theatre experience of my life - devastating.
Just lovely, thank you Henry. You’ve nailed it. I always love that slightly “Carry On” feel he has, combined with thrilling use of scientific and philosophical theories. Like in Arcadia:
Brice: There is still the injury to his conjugal property, Mrs Chater’s…
Chater: Tush, Sir!
Brice: As you will, her tush. Nevertheless….
Haha yes that’s a splendid moment
Thank you for this wonderful tribute to Stoppard and his genius.
You think Stoppard at his best can match Beckett at his best? I wouldn't have thought so.
Different sorts of writer
Beckett wasn’t English!
Was that the implication?
Not of your comment I assume, but you’d said TS was the greatest English playwright since Shaw; that isn’t a category Beckett belongs in.
Oh sorry I see yes ofc
Nor Shaw, obviously.
Neither was Shaw. Moreover, early on, the review mentions Beckett without any caveat. I suspect most of the people here know Beckett was Irish, assisted his countryman Joyce, and so on. Our author didn't seem too concerned with this distinction, so I didn't see why I should be.
I wouldn't myself call Shaw an English playwright, but I understand the point people make when they consider his (and Wilde's) work as part of the English theatrical tradition.
Beckett, on the other hand, is not part of that tradition.
Fair enough.
Certainly my favorite 20th Century playwright, and your encomium is beautiful and hits all the right notes. I will say that while it's nowhere near as good as the great plays (of which, yes, Arcadia is my favorite) I quite enjoyed Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon, and I wouldn't relegate it to completists only stature, though indeed he made the right decision to concentrate on drama.
Oh I enjoyed it too many moons ago
In films he’s known for having written Shakespeare In Love, but it’s the enormous number of uncredited rewrites he did to many of the biggest blockbusters that are most astonishing. Much of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is his reworking of the existing script, improving it beyond measure (not just inserting witticisms). He also doctored (among others) The Bourne Ultimatum, Schindler’s List, Sleepy Hollow, and - beyond even his powers of rescue - Star Wars Episode 3 (Revenge of the Sith).
Amazing that neither Stoppard or Shaw were English!
Stoppard was English and thought of himself as being so
This is oversharing perhaps but I used to repeat a joke of his to describe a painful breakup: "my Czech bounced."
Haha great line
Private Eye used to refer to Robert Maxwell as 'the bouncing Czech' back in the sixties or seventies... not sure Stoppard was the progenitor
I was surprised to see you describe Shaw as English. He wrote in English.
Thank you for this - I love Stoppard, especially his earlier writings.
One play of his which you don't mention: Every Good Boy Deserves Favour - it is hardly ever performed, for the practical reason that it requires a full orchestra on stage (Stoppard co-wrote it with Andre Previn), but it is a delight, though more directly political than most of Stoppard's work (it is an attack on the Soviet treatment of dissidents). I have been waiting for years unsuccessfully to see it staged again ...
Yes, isn't love wonderful? The wonder is often in its variety and suddenness; one can as easily love a play as a person, a writer you met for a few minutes outside a stage door as the woman you've spent forty-six years adoringly accompanying through life. Oh, yes, myriad are the kinds of love. Stoppard loved creating these insights into how we come to care about different aspects of the world from 19th Century gardens to the origins of altruism to the similarities between a cricket bat and powerful writing to the complexity of our affection for a child, a lover, a family.
In an extraordinarily lucky occurrence, I got to spend five weeks this autumn exploring three of Stoppard's plays, The Real Thing, Arcadia, and The Hard Problem, prime examples of how in his words he sought to "subsume thought and calculation into the interior of, say, a love story or a story of triumph and failure." In doing so, the webpage at the link below kept growing with more and more links to the generous interviews he gave and the many ways in which others interpreted his work. (Some of those are in the PowerPoints used as a guide for each session) I count myself lucky to have all of this material yet sad that death has stilled the flow of that marvelous 'thought and calculation"
https://knowledgeworkings.wpcomstaging.com/thought-and-calculation-a-tom-stoppard-course/