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In a series of conversations that bring guest artists to campus to discuss what they face in making art in the modern world, acclaimed, four-time Tony Award-winning playwright Tom Stoppard (Leopoldstadt, Rock ’n’ Roll, Arcadia, The Real Thing, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead), discusses his life and work with Paul Muldoon, director of the Princeton Atelier.

 

Tickets & Details

This event is currently sold out, however a stand-by line will be formed at the event at McCosh 50 starting at 7:00 pm and tickets remaining at 7:25 pm will be distributed on a first-come basis to those in the stand-by line.

Tickets of guests not seated by 7:25 p.m. may be given to guests without tickets.

COVID-19 Guidance + Updates

Per Princeton University policy, all guests must either be fully vaccinated, or have recently tested negative (via PCR within 72 hours or via rapid antigen test within 8 hours of the scheduled visit) and be prepared to show proof if asked, or wear a face covering when indoors and around others.

Accessibility

symbol for wheelchair accessibilityMcCosh 50 is wheelchair accessible. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at 609-258-5262 or email LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week in advance of the event date.

About Tom Stoppard

Playwright Sir Tom Stoppard was born Tomás Straüssler on July 3, 1937, in Zlín, Czechoslovakia.

He grew up in Singapore and India during the Second World War and moved to England in 1946 with his mother and stepfather, his own father having been killed in Singapore. Educated at schools in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, he became a journalist working for the Western Daily Press (1954-8) and the Bristol Evening World (1958-60), and became theater critic for Scene magazine in London (1962-3). He began writing plays for radio and television, including The Dissolution of Dominic Boot (1964), A Walk on the Water, televised in 1963, and The Stand-Ins, later revised as The Real Inspector Hound (1968). Albert’s Bridge (1968) was first broadcast by BBC Radio in 1967.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1967) premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1966. The play came to the attention of Kenneth Tynan, then working for the National Theatre, and it was produced at the National in 1967 and on Broadway in 1967, winning a Tony Award for Best Play in 1968. The Real Inspector Hound was first staged in 1968, followed by productions of Albert’s Bridge and If You’re Glad I’ll Be Frank, both in 1969.

Stoppard’s play Jumpers (1972) was staged at the National Theatre in 1972 and his adaptation of Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba was first performed in the same year. Travesties (1975) was first staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1974, transferring to New York in 1975 where it won a Tony Award for Best Play. Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1976), was inspired by his friendship with Viktor Fainberg, who had been imprisoned in Czechoslovakia by the Soviets, and Stoppard began to speak out on behalf of dissidents including the Czech playwright Vaclav Havel, who had been charged with subversion. Professional Foul (1978) was written for Amnesty International’s Prisoner of Conscience Year in 1977.

On the Razzle, adapted from Johann Nestroy’s Einen Jux will er sich machen, was staged at the National Theatre in 1981, followed by The Real Thing in 1982. Stoppard was on the board of the National Theatre from 1989-2003. His trilogy of plays set in 19th century Russia, The Coast of Utopia (2002), was first staged at the National Theatre in 2002.

Stoppard was knighted in 1997. He lives in London. His latest plays include Heroes (2005), Rock ‘n’ Roll (2006) and The Hard Problem (2015). He has written the screenplays for adaptations of Anna Karenina (2012) and Tulip Fever (2014), and co-wrote the screenplay for Shakespeare in Love (1998).

Presented By

  • Princeton Atelier

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