There is a profile of Tom Stoppard in the New Statesman:
For me his work has been somewhat hit-and-miss, but there seems little doubt that he has been one of the most significant dramatists of his generation, one of a very fine group of post-war writers. He has been very prolific, with numerous radio and stage plays, TV plays and adaptations and film screenplays.
Among his radio plays I particularly like Artist Descending a Staircase, The Dog It Was That Died and In the Native State.
His best original TV play imv was Professional Foul.
Of his stage plays, I most admire Travesties, The Real Thing, Arcadia and The Invention of Love. I never liked Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and though I have read The Coast of Utopia I have not had a chance to hear or see how it would work on radio, TV or stage.
Apart from his screenplay for Brazil and his recent TV adaptation of Ford Madox Ford's Parade End, I don't think his film or TV work, especially adaptations of other writers' work, has shown him at his best and - as he perhaps acknowledged in the interview - it has taken time away from his original work. Still, his contribution to the cultural life of this country has been immense and he has been something unusual among dramatists, a Burkean conservative among a host of predominantly left-of-centre writers. It's interesting to compare his work with that of his sometime contemporary Beckett who at times used words with extreme economy and conciseness, whereas Stoppard's plays are full of verbal tricks and a kind of intellectual ballet.
I'd be interested to hear a review of his latest play from anyone here who has the chance to see it. I'll try and catch up with the cinema broadcast on April 16.
For me his work has been somewhat hit-and-miss, but there seems little doubt that he has been one of the most significant dramatists of his generation, one of a very fine group of post-war writers. He has been very prolific, with numerous radio and stage plays, TV plays and adaptations and film screenplays.
Among his radio plays I particularly like Artist Descending a Staircase, The Dog It Was That Died and In the Native State.
His best original TV play imv was Professional Foul.
Of his stage plays, I most admire Travesties, The Real Thing, Arcadia and The Invention of Love. I never liked Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and though I have read The Coast of Utopia I have not had a chance to hear or see how it would work on radio, TV or stage.
Apart from his screenplay for Brazil and his recent TV adaptation of Ford Madox Ford's Parade End, I don't think his film or TV work, especially adaptations of other writers' work, has shown him at his best and - as he perhaps acknowledged in the interview - it has taken time away from his original work. Still, his contribution to the cultural life of this country has been immense and he has been something unusual among dramatists, a Burkean conservative among a host of predominantly left-of-centre writers. It's interesting to compare his work with that of his sometime contemporary Beckett who at times used words with extreme economy and conciseness, whereas Stoppard's plays are full of verbal tricks and a kind of intellectual ballet.
I'd be interested to hear a review of his latest play from anyone here who has the chance to see it. I'll try and catch up with the cinema broadcast on April 16.
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