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“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.
About the author
Tom Stoppard is the author of such seminal works as
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,
Jumpers,
The Real Thing,
Arcadia,
The Invention of Love,
Travesties, and the trilogy
The Coast of Utopia. His screen credits include
Parade’s End,
Shakespeare in Love,
Enigma,
Empire of the Sun, and
Anna Karenina.
Summary
“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.
