Rock 'n' Roll by Tom Stoppard

Rock 'n' Roll by Tom Stoppard

"One of the great political plays in the English language."--Sunday Times (UK)

It is 1968, and the world is ablaze with rebellion. 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. When security forces tighten their grip on artistic expression, Jan is inexorably drawn toward a dangerous act of dissent. Back in England, Jan's volcanic mentor Max, a communist Marxist, faces a crisis of his own as his cancer-stricken wife Eleanor, and then his free-spirited daughter Esme, witness the breakdown of his ideals. Winner of the Evening Standard's Best Play Award, Rock 'n' Roll moves between Cambridge and Prague, where lives spin and intersect with history until an unexpected reunion draws together what was worth the fight: the possibility of freedom and love.

Tomás Straüssler was born in Zlin, Czechoslovakia, in 1937 and immigrated to England with his family in 1946. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead premiered in London in 1967, he was instantly catapulted into the forefront of modern playwrights. He is the phenomenally celebrated author of The Real Inspector Hound, Enter a Free Man, Albert's Bridge, After Magritte, Travesties, Dirty Linen, Jumpers, New-Found-Land, Night and Day, The Real Thing, Hapgood, Artist et etc. He's also authored screenplays for films like The Romantic Englishwoman, Despair, and Brazil. He received the David Cohen Award for lifetime accomplishment in literature in 2017.