Enter a Free Man

by Tom Stoppard

'George Riley is the man who invented indoor rain...from the moment he sweeps into his local announcing that he has left home forever with nothing but a toothbrush and a ten-bob note, he imposes the authority of his fantasy not only on the audience, but on the regulars who have heard the same declaration of independence every Saturday for years. He imposes it by language, the gorgeous comic rhetoric of a talent so transparently theatrical that it must have been born in a trunk...he is a splendid full-fledged comic creation...If we hadn't already seen ROsencrantz and Guildenstern we'd be hailing Enter a Free Man as the liveliest debut for years.' - Ronald Bryden, Observer

Genres: Drama, Plays

85 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Sir Tom Stoppard was a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and political freedom, often delving into the deeper philosophical thematics of society. Stoppard has been a playwright of the National Theatre and is one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation. He was knighted for his contribution to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997.

Born in Czechoslovakia, Stoppard left as a child refugee, fleeing imminent Nazi occupation. He settled with his family in Britain after the war, in 1946, having spent the previous three years (1943–1946) in a boarding school in Darjeeling in the Indian Himalayas. After being educated at schools in Nottingham and Yorkshire, Stoppard became a journalist, a drama critic and then, in 1960, a playwright.

Stoppard's most prominent plays include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966), Jumpers (1972), Travesties (1974), Night and Day (1978), The Real Thing (1982), Arcadia (1993), The Invention of Love (1997), The Coast of Utopia (2002), Rock 'n' Roll (2006) and Leopoldstadt (2020). He wrote the screenplays for Brazil (1985), Empire of the Sun (1987), The Russia House (1990), Billy Bathgate (1991), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Enigma (2001), and Anna Karenina (2012), as well as the HBO limited series Parade's End (2013). He directed the film Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), an adaptation of his own 1966 play, with Gary Oldman and Tim Roth as the leads.

He has received numerous awards and honours including an Academy Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, and five Tony Awards. In 2008, The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 11 in their list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture". It was announced in June 2019 that Stoppard had written a new play, Leopoldstadt, set in the Jewish community of early 20th-century Vienna. The play premiered in January 2020 at Wyndham's Theatre. The play went on to win the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play and later the 2022 Tony Award for Best Play.

Reviews

[Sjors · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some may call this Stoppard play a comedy, but to me it is a tragedy -or tragi/comedy at best. ‘Enter a free man’ is about the dreams we cling to that make our lives seem meaningful and filled with purpose. In fact, in this play those dreams have become utter delusions: a father who fancies himself an inventor and a daughter who fancies herself truly loved by her current bf to the point of elopement; between these two, the wife and mother who spends her days obsessively cleaning their shared apartment, believing that by controlling her physical environment she is in control of her life.

We follow the father’s comic but utterly tragic flights of fancy as he runs way ahead of himself after inventing an envelope that can be sealed twice. Based on a few conversations in the pub he believes he has found a business partner and a new life partner - without even knowing their names. The next day when he sees them again, believing they will start a new life of business and living, the whole house of cards comes crashing down. In the background, the daughter’s elopement dream also sours as she finds out that her lover is a married man after all. And so the two of them wash up again at the apartment, rejoining the uncomfortable domestic situationship we found them in at the start of the play. A glimmer of hope shines through in the last few lines, as the father and daughter have learned some small lessons and the mother’s frantic cleaning comes to a temporary halt.

Poignant, painful, and funny. I always find much enjoyment in reading Stoppard’s plays.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retread of Stoppard's first play, a more polished off (I suppose) kitchen sink drama that has a lifeless Riley trying out his latest invention, dreaming of his escape when his ship comes in. As for a long-suffering wife and overworked daughter, nothing good comes out of these situations, more of the same. Even Riley's Rousseau and Descartes come across as half-hearted and barely have an impact on Carmen's barflies. Surprised, if not a little alarmed, that I happened to start reading this play (again) on the same date as the Free Man enters the bar, only to return again to the same situation as at the start of the play and perhaps the rest of his life!

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funnier and often more generous version of "Death of a Salesman", "Enter a Free Man" takes the optimist's view of a man with unfulfilled ambitions and dreams. A tad long, the play has surprising depths to it and the buoyant human keeps the whole enterprise from sinking into the morbid and cliche. An early work by Stoppard, but one that deserves a revival.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a funny little play, well worth a read.

[Nick Douglas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very minor Stoppard. The beginning is absurd, the ending more relatable and realistic but undeservedly so.

[Kalilah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good moments and great quotes, but it's quite outdated. A quick read in any case.

[Dr G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a slightly curious, and unexpected, early play of Tom Stoppard. It has little of the verbal play and joy that became Stoppard’s features. One can see him here trying to work out where his future writing would head. Enter a Free Man has a definite feeling of Death of a Salesman about it, but with a slightly more absurdist overlay. The reader looking for Stoppardian puns must content himself with Victor, the barman, known as Carmen, and Richard, the seaman, known as Able. A sound enough play, but really of interest as an historical artefact rather than as a predecessor to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

[John Vanderslice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom Stoppard is my favorite play, period. I'm going to like anything he writes, but I have to admit I wasn't sure where this one was going at first. But in the end, it has all the hallmarks of a great Stoppard play: zippy dialogue, intriguing stagecraft, a huge sense of humor, a broad intelligence and playfulness, and, even more than most of his plays, a big heart at the center.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amusing play, reminiscent of The Office or Ever Decreasing Circles, with the main man convinced that he is going to invent something to make him rich, while his wife and daughter support him.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reminds me of Death Of A Salesman. There's very clever language, but ultimately quite sad.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

something of a period piece now, but still ingenious, witty and often unexpectedly moving