So Husak can relax, he's made the rules, it's his game. Music accompanies the Cambridge sections just as much, though here the central figure is the elusive Cambridge Piper, Syd Barrett, the former Pink Floyd for whom even the music was too much. There are several other significant figures: Max's flower-child daughter Esme and then her own daughter, Alice , Max's classicist wife, cancer-ridden Eleanor, and Lenka, a fellow Czech who stays in Cambridge when Jan chooses to go back to Czechoslovakia and studies Philology and Classics.
It makes a for a somewhat crowded field, and the jumps in time make it difficult to follow all the changes all the characters go through -- though steadfast Max's toeing the party line as he sees it stands in clever contrast to the many other changes in his household.
Stopprd has bitten off a lot here, and the chewing is not always entirely successful. The play makes for quite good theatre, with Stoppard effectively using musical excerpts throughout it. The scenes are strong, with the usual sharp Stoppard dialogue, but the play as a whole feels like it's trying to cover too much ground -- while covering nothing completely.
Certainly of considerable interest, but not entirely satisfying. Trying to meet all your book preview and review needs. Contents: Main. Rock 'n' Roll - US. Rock 'n' Roll - UK. Rock 'n' Roll - Canada.
Daily Telegraph. The Independent. The NY Post. The New Yorker. I believe the same as you do. They spring from your character. It's not the action of a friend to point out that your character is more heroic than mine.
It pisses me off. Why do you do it? You'll be insufferable now. Jan 26, Mely rated it it was ok. Like a lot of Stoppard plays, Rock 'N' Roll bears a dense weight of ambition, exposition, and information; like a lot of Stoppard plays, it slips between multiple time periods; like a lot of Stoppard plays, it's concerned with the slippage between personal connection and political event, how history shapes the individual and the individual shapes history.
Most of those other Stoppard plays are much better. Feb 11, Tom O'Brien rated it liked it Shelves: plays. This is the first Stoppard I've read that haven't particularly liked. While it's technically and structurally strong, the characters feel too much like vehicles for political propositions for my taste, without committing to them as that.
It also lacks the verbal dexteritiy I expect from Tom Stoppard, but that's more my problem than his, I acknowledge. Oct 13, Tova added it. This play is quite interesting. It packs a lot of history, but is really just about people trying to live their lives. A friend introduced me to Stoppard in school, before I moved to Czechia, and it was long after that I realized his connection.
This is a lovely rediscussion of dissent in a way that hopefully was more accessible to western audiences than some of the samizdat. Jul 11, Larry Bassett rated it liked it Shelves: plays. The play was referred to as a companion piece to the book in one of the GR reviews. Stoppard is an admirer of Havel. The play overlaps with the events of Prague Spring, the Velvet Revolution and ensuing years. The play is set in Prague, Czechoslovakia and Cambridge, England from to Less than a month after the invasion, Plastic People of the Universe was formed.
It was the foremost representative of Prague's underground culture — This avant-garde group went against the grain of the Communist regime and due to its non-conformism often suffered serious problems such as arrests. Some knowledge about the history of the era is helpful but there is a chronology of events from to at the end of the book. I wish I had noticed that before I started reading. I give this book a strong three stars.
If I took the time to read it again and tried to follow the character development more closely, I can imagine it moving up to four stars. I also think there is an edition that includes a CD of the featured music.
Since I am not much of a rock lyric fan, I can only wonder about how marvelously the music and staging must have fit into the action. The script is very exact about the selection and timing of the rock music. Jul 24, Chad rated it really liked it. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Max defends Communism in Act I. Feb 19, Sarah rated it it was amazing Shelves: drama. A perfect marriage of the personal and the political occur in Stoppard's insightful, smaller work from Concerned as most of his work is with the ideological--as it loses verve under oppression or repression of the human spirit--his characters here leap from the page for the most part; per usual, his side characters sometimes suffer at the hand of adding interesting vocal rhythms to the piece.
The lives of British Communist Max and his pupil Jan intersect across the years of the aging Comm A perfect marriage of the personal and the political occur in Stoppard's insightful, smaller work from The lives of British Communist Max and his pupil Jan intersect across the years of the aging Communist regime in the s. At the play's start, Jan leaves the UK for Prague, where he intends to save socialism. As the noose begins to tighten around personal freedoms there, he clings to his beloved record collection, where he finds that personal choice and expression still exist.
His association with The Plastic People of the Universe, one of many rebellious Czech rock bands, gives him hope for a better future. Meanwhile, Max sits at home, a dinosaur politico from another age who can't handle the coming death of his fiery wife; unbeknown to most of the family, his youngest daughter pines for the far away Jan.
Ultimately, like many of Stoppard's play, Rock'n'Roll is a love story. Maybe a much purer love story than the one depicted in his trilogy The Coast of Utopia, as it concerns more present matters and a brighter, more involved set of lovers. Big ideas are buoyed by the personalities depicted here, but those big ideas rest on the laurels of feeling loved, or knowing what it is to reach someone. Music does that, as Stoppard clearly states here, and so does revolution--in any form.
Jun 07, Matt rated it really liked it. This was not, and has never been, a play intended to be read. The title is a signifier to the political landscape out of which the revolutionary social scenes of late 60s Europe emerged. It's Stoppard's most personal play, not just because of the great script, but because of the way he utilises music as a medium to bolster the impact of his writing. This play is called Rock 'n' Roll for a reason, and Stoppard fully expected his script to be coupled with the fantastic soundtrack that the production was intended for.
To not take that into account is to do the writer a massive disservice. It's a fantastic play and I hope it get's a re-run or a film reboot at some point in the future. Oh and by the way, yeah, the piper on the wall is definitely Syd Barrett. Aug 14, Tom rated it did not like it Recommends it for: nobody at all. I'm tempted to dismiss this as pure excruciating drivel, but I can only judge it by the NYC production, which was one of the most boring things I've ever had to sit through in my life.
Trevor Nunn worked his own special brand of evil on this play, drawing out about 45 minutes worth of plot into over three hours of talk talk talk and then more talk, with extended blackouts so that the turntable set could be moved about thirty degrees, while the audience got to sit in near total darkness listening I'm tempted to dismiss this as pure excruciating drivel, but I can only judge it by the NYC production, which was one of the most boring things I've ever had to sit through in my life.
Trevor Nunn worked his own special brand of evil on this play, drawing out about 45 minutes worth of plot into over three hours of talk talk talk and then more talk, with extended blackouts so that the turntable set could be moved about thirty degrees, while the audience got to sit in near total darkness listening to badly amplified music while reading projections detailing the band personnel of each song.
No more Stoppard for me. Feb 07, Molly Willis rated it it was amazing. A clever, intelligent representation of both Rock N Roll music and the Czechoslovakian conflict in the 70s and most importantly, how they are intertwined.
For somebody young like me, this play requires a LOT of research, but my God is it worth it. The characters are presented with incredible realism. Most are intelligent, some are just beautiful people. Tom Stoppard uses history, music, wit and characterisation so perfectly that you get completely lost and entertained.
This play has made such an i A clever, intelligent representation of both Rock N Roll music and the Czechoslovakian conflict in the 70s and most importantly, how they are intertwined. This play has made such an impact on me that I am performing Esme's "Syd Barrett was the Piper" monologue for my drama exam. Tip: play the music in the stage directions, everything makes sense. Jun 09, Aletvin rated it liked it. This should have been terrific, with its focus on the resistance of the dissidents in communist Czechoslovakia and the role of rock 'n' roll in the youth rebellion of the 60s and 70s.
It's witty and smart, and Stoppard's clearly passionate about the subject his own family were refugees from C. But it was fun looking up clips This should have been terrific, with its focus on the resistance of the dissidents in communist Czechoslovakia and the role of rock 'n' roll in the youth rebellion of the 60s and 70s.
Jan 11, Frank rated it it was ok Shelves: plays. I'm not sure I understand this play. I assume it would be better in performance. But on the page, it falls short for me. Too much talking about ideas, and arguments over ideologies, without enough interpersonal drama. Not that there isn't any, but it takes a clear backseat to politics. The subplot involving Syd Barrett was interesting, though, and I enjoyed the use of him as the "Piper" at the beginning. So, I didn't really like the play, but I have got to be missing something because it's suppos I'm not sure I understand this play.
So, I didn't really like the play, but I have got to be missing something because it's supposed to be good. Jan 08, Simon rated it really liked it Shelves: theater. I don't know why it took me so long to read this work by a writer I admire, but I thoroughly enjoyed this.
As usual there are a lot of ideas in play and I'd love to see those ideas illuminated in a good production; reading any play is always half a loaf at best. Rock n' Roll isn't as tightly constructed a work as Stoppard's masterpiece Arcadia; it rolls to a stop rather than ending.
Yet the way Stoppard blends politics, music, sex, death, and generational change here is very exciting. Strongly r I don't know why it took me so long to read this work by a writer I admire, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. It is 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 Soviet tanks roll into Prague.
Drama on 3.
0コメント