Sir Tom Stoppard, The Early Plays. 1. Introduction

Sir Tom Stoppard has produced a large and varied body of work, including plays for radio, television and the stage, a novel, and several screenplays. In his early career he became best known for three major stage plays, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966), Jumpers (1972) and Travesties (1974). Most of his early plays were extremely funny, and extremely clever, both in construction and dialogue. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Jumpers in particular entertain us with an intricate juggling of philosophical concepts combined with Stoppard's particular style of humour.

It is easy to be dazzled by the 'pyrotechnics' of his wit and this is, no doubt, why his early plays were so popular. But combined with the cleverness is a seriousness and moral concern often overlooked by critics and easy for an audience to miss.

Stoppard is not the first playwright to mix seriousness with humour of course, but whereas, for example, a Shakespeare tragedy may have brief comic interludes, in Stoppard's plays the humour and seriousness co-exist as intertwined strands. Shakespeare's comic interludes serve to heighten the tragic climaxes and the tragic setting heightens the impact of the comedy, but in Stoppard's work the comic and the serious are closely intertwined, (so much so that they may even be said to compromise one another). The serious thought is often hidden behind, or within, the comedy and one has to see or read a play several times before seeing through the wit and ingenuity to the moral, social, and philosophical concerns lying below.

The thought is generally of an intellectual, philosophical nature. His plays, while having dramatic merit, are also vehicles for the exploration of such themes as the relationship between chaos and order, or free will and determinism. In this series of articles about his early work, from 1960 to 1974, I shall discuss the development of these intellectual themes, and the way Stoppard uses the medium, be it radio, TV, or stage, to give dramatic expression to his ideas.

The works to be discussed include:

A Separate Peace (1960), Enter a Free Man (1963) , If You're Glad I'll be Frank (1966), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966), Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon (Novel) (1966), Albert's Bridge (1967), Dogg's Our Pet (1971), Jumpers (1972), Travesties (1974).

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By: Ian Mackean

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Ian Mackean runs English Literature Resources & Essays, (where his site on Short Story Writing can also be found), and Books Made Into Movies.com. He is editor of 'The Essentials of Literature in English post-1914'. He is also a keen amateur photographer and has made a site of his photography at Photo-zen.com photography