Tom Stoppard’s latest work, the sprawling, epic ‘Rock N Roll’, was quite an experience. The play covered a broad sweep of time, beginning in Cambridge, England in 1968, and ending in Prague, Czechoslavakia in 1990. This time period was a politically very volatile period, including the Soviet invasion of Czechoslavakia and Thatcherism in England, but through it all the play sees the force of rock n roll as being liberating and uncompromising, a powerful life force.
Two strong, contrasting characters were at the heart of the play. On one side there is British professor, Max, played by William Zappa, an ardent communist and left winger. A man who lives and breathes politics. On the other side is Jan, a young Czech disciple of his. He is a brilliant student and gifted academically but his passion, that thing which keeps him alive, is rock music. He is a fanatic!
One of the interesting aspects about the play is that Jan who sees himself as being a free spirit ends up being caught up in political turmoil and is put into jail for a time along with other followers of the legendary Czech rock band, the Plastic People of the Universe.
Whilst Stoppard’s characters tread the boards, there is a large backdrop screen against which all sorts of images from the two decades are thrown. And then there was the music with songs from artists such as Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones , The Beach Boys, The Cure and U2.
Rock and Roll does win in Stoppards play, expressing its indestructible spirit. The peformances of the leading cast were all good, and veteran director and Melbourne Theatre Company Artistic Director Simon Phillips did great work.
The strongest moments of the play belonged to Genevieve Picot as Max’s wife, Eleanor, whose body is riddled with cancer. The marriage has been falling apart as Max’s desire for his dying wife dims. In a brilliantly delivered speech Picot announces ‘I am not my body…I am so much more’. Its a speech that got right under the skin!
The weakest points in the play were when Stoppard got his characters talking about mythological characters like Sappho…this stuff completely lost me…..