Understanding Stoppard

For a long time, I’ve regarded Tom Stoppard’s plays as something of a challenge. I find him ‘consciously clever’ in that he shows you his intelligence in the play, but sometimes in a way that seems patronising and to look down on the average theatre-goer. Basically, I find him an intellectual snob. Of course, if you ‘get’ the play, it’s quite another matter! So, I love the plays that I understand, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Travesties, but I have recollections of watching Jumpers many years ago, which was billed as a comedy, and I didn’t have a clue what was going on.

I did want to see Hapgood* at the WYP though. I remember the first production of it, 20 years ago (yes, I am that old!), when the reviews were mixed, but it’s not really been revived since. This time it has Josie Lawrence playing Hapgood, an actress I’ve always liked**. I approached it with some concern, though, after reading that it was about quantum physics (?!!). I used to come bottom in ‘normal’ physics, never mind the quantum variety!

As always, I bought the programme and sat and read some of it before I went in. I was even more worried. I didn’t understand much of what was in the programme, so how was I going to fare with the play?

By the interval I was confused. I understood it. Yes, there were a couple of fairly dense scientific bits, where I didn't understand all the details, but that didn’t matter, I could follow the play. It wasn't ‘easy’ theatre, you had to concentrate and think about it, but I love that. I like how it was put together, like a classic spy thriller, with questions asked, but not yet answered. It was clever, but I didn’t feel I was being preached at.

Act 2 pulled all the stands together, in what I thought was a very clever way. Afterwards there was a ‘talkback’ with the cast. Quite a few of the audience stayed behind for this, and it was clear from some of the questions that one or two hadn’t grasped the plot at all. What was also said was that, after the original London production, Stoppard had re-written the play to take out some of the physics.

As we left the theatre, another audience member asked me if I’d found it difficult to understand. I said I though I would, but I hadn’t, and neither had she. Maybe, as Corinne said, I’ve just seen an awful lot more theatre since Jumpers. I’m certainly up for more Stoppard, and I never thought I’d say that.

*As an aside, it’s fascinating to see this as a Cold War play only a couple of weeks after returning from Krakow. This play was written only a year before the Berlin wall came down, and it seems to be from a different world.

**I liked her Katherina at Stratford, though not everyone did.