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Addressed to the enthusiastic theatregoer as well as to students of contemporary theatre, this new edition includes a fresh chapter on Hapgood. Anthony Jenkins is an actor and director as well as a teacher of drama, and this refreshing perspective informs his writing. He is interested in how Stoppard's plays work in the theatre (and on radio and television), and describes the playwright's use of stage space and action, interior emotions, the pauses in the dialogue, as well as the dialogue itself. Recently, critics have pointed to the political emphasis of the later plays. To Jenkins, Stoppard's career is all of a piece and is best described chronologically. The whole dramatic output, with the exception of the adaptations and film-scripts, is examined in detail: three short stories and the novel Lord Malquist and Mr Moon are considered as essential to an appreciation of Stoppard's theatrical imagination; comments on the radio and television plays interweave and support discussion of the major plays from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to The Real Thing and Hapgood.
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The Theatre of Tom Stoppard
The Theatre of Tom Stoppard Anthony Jenkins University of Victoria, British Columbia
Second edition
The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by Henry VIII in 1534. The University has printed and published continuously since 1584.
Cambridge University Press Cambridge New York New Rochelle Melbourne Sydney
Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP 32 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1987, 1989 First published 1987 Reprinted 1988 Second edition 1989 British Library cataloguing in publication data
Jenkins, Anthony The theatre of Tom Stoppard - 2nd ed. 1. Stoppard, Tom - Criticism and interpretation I. Title 822'.914 PR6069.T6Z/ Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data
Jenkins, Anthony, 1936The theatre of Tom Stoppard. Bibliography. 1. Stoppard, Tom - Criticism and interpretations. I. Title. PR6069.T6Z7 1987 82 2'.914 86-21572 ISBN o 521 37391 3 hard covers ISBN o 521 37974 1 paperback
Transferred to digital printing 2003
FP
For M A R I O N , BRONWYN and M E G A N
Knowing, being known . . . Having that is being rich.
Contents Fore words 1
A free man
page ix i
Enter a Free Man, p.i- The Gamblers, p. 7 - The Dissolution of Dominic Boot, p. 9- !/WIs forMoon among Other Things, p. 11 - If You We Glad III Be Frank, p. 14-A Separate Peace, p. 19 - Neutral Ground, p. 21- This Way Out with Samuel Boot, P. 23 2
Now you see him
24
Three stories: 'Reunion',/*. 24, 'Life, Times: Fragments',/*. 26, 'The Story',/*. 27-Lord Malquist and Mr Moon, p. 28 - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, p. 37 3
Victims of perspective
50
The Real Inspector Hound, p. 50 - After Magritte, p. 54 - Teeth, p. 59 -Alberti Bridge, p. 61 - Where Are They Now?, p. 65 4
Trapped in language
72
Another Moon Called Earth, p. 73 -Jumpers, p. 76 5
What did you do, Dada?
99
Dogg's Our Pet, p. 101 -Artist Descending a Staircase, p. 105 - Travesties, p. 115 6
Ethics and manners
125
Dirty Linen and New-Found-Land, p. 125 - Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, p. 131 - Professional Foul, p. 136 - Night and Day, p. 142 vii
7
The real thing?
154
Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth, p. 155- The Real Thing, p. isg - The Dog It Was That Died, p. 172 Squaring the Circle, p. 176 Afterwords
183
Hapgood, p. 183
Notes
Vlll
193