He was interested in Muriel Spark’s first (and, as it turned out, only) play, Doctors of Philosophy, which he reviewed alongside Saroyan and described as “a thoroughly entertaining failure.” A farcical, surreal satire on academic aspirations, it has a well-read cleaning lady, three male characters all called Charlie (including a lorry driver and a nuclear physicist), and what Stoppard described as “literate, spiky, concise” dialogue.
