Undiscovered Country is a 1979 Tom Stoppard play first produced at the Olivier Theatre in London. The play is an adaptation of Das weite Land by the Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler, which focuses on 1890s Viennese society, demonstrating the effects of upper class codes of behavior on human relationships. [1] The main character is a self-made businessman named Friedrich Hofreiter who manages to be both charming and chauvinistic. Stoppard's alterations to the play consist of adding humor while lessening the melodrama.[ citation needed ] The title of the play is a reference to the concept of the afterlife as the "undiscovered country" from the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy in Hamlet .
Sir Tom Stoppard is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and political freedom, often delving into the deeper philosophical thematics of society. Stoppard has been a playwright of the National Theatre and is one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation. Stoppard was knighted for his contribution to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997.
Arcadia (1993), written by English playwright Tom Stoppard, explores the relationship between past and present, order and disorder, certainty and uncertainty. It has been praised by many critics as the finest play from "one of the most significant contemporary playwrights" in the English language. In 2006, the Royal Institution of Great Britain named it one of the best science-related works ever written.
Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist.
The Tony Award for Best Play is an annual award given to the best new (non-musical) play on Broadway, as determined by Tony Award voters. There was no award in the Tonys' first year. The award goes to the authors and the producers of the play. Plays that have appeared in previous Broadway productions are instead eligible for Best Revival of a Play.
Hapgood is a play by Tom Stoppard, first produced in 1988. It is mainly about espionage, focusing on a British female spymaster (Hapgood) and her juggling of career and motherhood. The play also makes reference to quantum mechanics, including Niels Bohr's "The answer is the question interrogated"; Heisenberg's uncertainty principle; and the topological problem of the Seven Bridges of Königsberg. It is regarded as one of Stoppard’s weakest works.
John Wood was an English actor, known for his performances in Shakespeare and his lasting association with Tom Stoppard. In 1976, he received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Stoppard's Travesties. He was nominated for two other Tony Awards for his roles in Sherlock Holmes (1975) and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1968). In 2007, Wood was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's New Year Honours List. Wood also appeared in WarGames, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Orlando, Shadowlands, The Madness of King George, Richard III, Sabrina, and Chocolat.
The Real Thing is a play by Tom Stoppard that was first performed in 1982. The play focuses on the relationship between Henry and Annie, an actress and member of a group fighting to free Brodie, a Scottish soldier imprisoned for burning a memorial wreath during a protest.
The Real Inspector Hound is a short, one-act play by Tom Stoppard. The plot follows two theatre critics named Moon and Birdboot who are watching a ludicrous setup of a country house murder mystery, in the style of a whodunit. By chance, they become involved in the action causing a series of events that parallel the play they are watching.
Undiscovered country may refer to:
Jumpers is a play by Tom Stoppard which was first performed in 1972. It explores and satirises the field of academic philosophy by likening it to a less-than-skilful competitive gymnastics display. Jumpers raises questions such as "What do we know?" and "Where do values come from?" It is set in an alternative reality in which some British astronauts have landed on the moon and "Radical Liberals" have taken over the British government. It was inspired by the notion that a crewed moon landing would ruin the moon as a poetic trope and possibly lead to a collapse of moral values. It has been said that Jumpers is "a play often dismissed as too clever by half", but a number of other writers have listed it among Stoppard's highest achievements.
Rough Crossing is a 1984 comedy play by British playwright Tom Stoppard, freely adapted from Ferenc Molnár's Játék a Kastélyban . Set on board the SS Italian Castle, it follows world-renowned playwrights Sandor Turai and Alex Gal in their attempts to preserve, with the assistance of the unorthodox cabin steward Dvornichek, the relationship of their composer, Adam Adam, and his love, the leading lady Natasha Navratilova, despite the interference of lothario actor Ivor Fish.
Rock 'n' Roll is a play by British playwright Tom Stoppard that premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2006.
Professional Foul is a television play written by Czech-born, British playwright Tom Stoppard. It was broadcast on 21 September 1977 in BBC 2's Play of the Week series.
Night and Day is a 1978 play by Tom Stoppard. The sets and costumes were designed by Carl Toms and it ran for two years at the Phoenix Theatre in central London, UK. The lead roles of Richard Wagner and Ruth Carson were created by John Thaw and Diana Rigg, respectively.
Edmund Stoppard is an English actor. He is the son of playwright Tom Stoppard and doctor Miriam, Lady Hogg.
Linzi Stoppard is a British electric violinist.
After Magritte is a surreal comedy written by Tom Stoppard in 1970. It was first performed in the Green Banana Restaurant at the Ambiance Lunch-hour Theatre Club in London.
Fiona Gaunt is an English actress and the mother of actress Genevieve Gaunt.
Toby Schmitz is an Australian actor and playwright.
Leopoldstadt is a play by Sir Tom Stoppard, originally directed by Patrick Marber, which premiered on 25 January 2020 at Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End. The play is set among the wealthy Jewish community in Vienna, in the first half of the 20th century and follows the lives of "a prosperous Jewish family who had fled the pogroms in the East". According to Stoppard, the play "took a year to write, but the gestation was much longer. Quite a lot of it is personal to me, but I made it about a Viennese family so that it wouldn't seem to be about me." All four of Stoppard's grandparents were Jews murdered by Nazis in concentration camps. On 2 October 2022, the production opened on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre with Marber directing.