Tom Stoppard in Conversation

by Paul Delaney (Editor)

This collection of interviews with British playwright Tom Stoppard, author of such well-known comedies as Travesties , Jumpers , and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead , brings together for the first time Stoppard's most significant assessments of his own work. A wide range of discussions are featured, from extensive conversations with the editors of Theatre Quarterly and Gambit to important interviews in lesser-known periodicals. The interviews include the playwright's unguarded comments to the daily press, from those of a dazzled young Stoppard the morning after the triumphant opening of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to those of a veteran playwright still smarting from caustic reviews 36 hours after the opening of Hapgood . The interviews cover the full range of Stoppard's work, from his adaptations for the stage to his increasing involvement in film, and this volume makes many of them available for the first time. Also appearing for the first time in print are transcripts of radio interviews and an informal lecture by Stoppard called "The Event and the Text." Tom Stoppard's conversations about his work shed light on questions of authorial intent and the creative process. Debates over interpretations of the plays will be enhanced by this record of Stoppard's own perceptions and insights. The collection also includes the most extensive bibliography and discography ever compiled of Stoppard's print interviews, broadcast interviews, and lectures. Witty, illuminating, and informative, Tom Stoppard in Conversation will be of interest to scholars, students, directors, actors, and fans of Stoppard's work.

328 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1994

Reviews

[John]

This collection of Tom Stoppard interviews, spanning the years 1967 through 1993, gave me profound insight into the playwright's seemingly endless profusion of transsexual characters. Underneath all those layers, at the core of the writer, I'm convinced there's a vagina.

[Tim]

Well, I read it through, albeit skimming a bit. Stoppard is someone I've long felt I should get to know (his stuff I mean) but it might have made sense to have seen/heard more of his plays before reading this extensive collection of interviews. Given his reputation as a shimmering intellect I thought it might be interesting enough in its own right, and I can't really complain because it wasn't.
He does seem fairly interesting and reasonably bright, though there is nothing in here that really demonstrates the genius that's constantly mentioned.

What's in it? About 3 dozen interviews, from newspapers, magazines and in a couple of cases relatively specialist drama journals. They get a bit repetitive. It's mildly interesting to note how often the same bons mots get recycled, both by his interviewers and by Stoppard himself.

I'm not passing a negative judgment on the book, just a mild warning that you may not get a fantastically huge amount of joy out of it unless you are already pretty well versed in and keen on Stoppard's work.

One final passing comment - there is a fair bit of material scattered through on Stoppard's experience of and take on the craft of play writing and production, which I did find interesting.