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Rock 'n' Roll (Stoppard)

  • Tom Stoppard
  • Full Length Play, Docudrama/Historic, Drama
  • 6M, 5F, 9M or F
  • ISBN: 9780571242429

"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 encountered from him before..."

The New York Times

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Docudrama/Historic, Drama

  • Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings
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 the 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.
REVIEWS:

"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, buoyancy and belief in the human spirit."

 The Guardian

"TRIUMPHANT. ROCK 'N' ROLL is arguably STOPPARD'S FINEST PLAY. He is a MAGICIAN, and this is 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 encountered from him before..."

 The New York Times

"FOUR STARS! FUNNY and ENTHRALLING! Rock 'n' Roll offers you something to take out of the theater you didn't come in with. Stoppard has focused the same lens and the same dramatic process he used in The Coast of Utopia on his own time -- And it's now even more sharply focused!"

 New York Post

"Rock 'n' Roll touches the heart while stimulating the mind. An intellectually challenging, intensely theatrical piece of work that is destined to be talked about wherever playgoers gather. I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

 The Wall Street Journal

Characters

  • Casting: 6M, 5F, 9M or F
  • Casting Notes: The characters age 22 years during the course of the play.

THE PIPER
ESME - a flower child of the 60's; 16
JAN - 29-50's
MAX - a bruiser, 52-70's
ELEANOR - also plays Esme in Act II; late 40's
GILLIAN - student
INTERROGATOR - middle-ranking bureaucrat; youngish
FERDINAND - 29-50's

Available Material

Name Price
Rock 'n' Roll (Stoppard) Script Order Now

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 the 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.

$24.95

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