Leopoldstadt - Wyndham's / Cinema Screening

Bit disappointing, I thought. I actually wanted it to be longer. I love many of Stoppard's plays, but not this. Maybe it would have been better in the hands of a more experienced director.

The first half is great; you get to know the characters a bit, and it describes an interesting world in some detail. But the rest feels rushed and rather superficial, despite the gravity of the subject matter. It would have made a wonderful epic three parter (had he felt like/been up to writing such a thing), but as it is, was much less rich and rewarding than his Russia trilogy, for example, yet without the snappiness of some of his shorter plays. And I'm afraid I found the acting over the top and lacking in truth on the whole.

Thank for your reply. I was assuming it would be emotionally harrowing but wanted to check that it didn't include scenes showing characters being tortured/murdered in concentration camps or anything similar.

There’s a big twist at the end? Intriguing. It better not be the cast all coming out in modern clothes or something equally cliched.

You are a star! Thanks a million!

Anyone done TodayTix for this and know where abouts the seats are?

You checking if I’m awake?
THAT was Ed Bennett. 

😂😂😂😂
So I’m not awake then.
Sorreeee.
What’s an ED between friends?

Found this underwhelming, the story is one we have heard many times and this does not really bring anything new to the table even though it’s timeliness is appreciated as we face a rise in ethnic discrimination.

Had no problem following the lineage of the characters and the arc even though at times it felt as if there were more on stage than an audience in some of the smaller Theatres I’ve frequented.

The TodayTix Rush seats are good value and for me a represented a fair price and would have been disappointed if I’d paid full price.

(The interval was taken up applying the maths problem raised for other values and as Gauss identified the formula is extremely simple when you see the pattern)

For all the heralding of the large cast and the children, the child actors could definitely have been cut. Beyond some pulling of each other’s hair and running around there was little brought by them.

The only child you needed was the one who dropped something important.

When you realised you were seeing one of them grown up, you didn’t tend to sit there with fond/distinct memories of their younger counterpart.

Free up that dressing room space haha.

I loved this. It's like Stoppard put down his calculator and took up painting full-time, as this, for me, is an exquisitely beautiful, detailed and personal portrait of a family passing through time.

Some spoilers follow. . .

I think for most playwrights, asking questions is the limit, fearing that trying to answer them would border on arrogance, or limit the scope of the art in some way.

What's typically great about Stoppard is that he fearlessly DOES try to answer questions, utilising his wit, and a magpie knowledge of facts, philosophies and mathematics. Often, his plays can be written out as equations lol.

So, "Arcadia" might be condensed into the equation: (order plus romanticism) divided by time = humanity. Which is actually genius, I think.

Or "The Hard Problem" might be condensed into the equation: consciousness plus humanity = religion is proved; which didn't resonate quite so well with me.

This play, Leopoldstadt, is the one in Sesame Street that is not like the others: it's so incredibly personal, and yet so beautifully rendered a portrait of Stoppard: his roots, his family, his ideas, his thoughtful dissection of ideologies, his communing with time as his eternal unifying theme, that it struck a massive chord with me. I think Stoppard finds the universal in the personal.

It's like Bong Joon-Ho said at the Oscars, quoting Martin Scorsese to Martin Scorsese lol, "the most personal is the most creative."

This is personal because it deals with Stoppard's Jewish roots, it's personal because Leo Thallon gets to play a version of Stoppard (in the character of Leo, his young English assimilated self), it's personal because his son's in it playing another version of himself (in the character of Ludwig, a man calmly and compassionately dissecting ideas and ideologies), it's personal because actors from other Stoppard plays are in it, it's personal because it depicts family life (I think children crawling about under tables and pestering adults are key to that depiction), it's personal because it's at once a Stoppardian discussion of ideas and time, as well as being all about Stoppard the man.

It is, of course, also another timely reminder about the dangers of ethno-nationalism, but the power of the piece is it's completeness and beauty as a self-portrait of it's author.

The ensemble are universally good. Adrian Scarborough (romantic) and Ed Stoppard (rational) stand out as two well-meaning family patriarchs; Leo Thallon nails that purse-lipped conceited self-regard that James Norton trade-marked in his portrayal of Stephen Ward on TV recently, and Jenna Augen and Faye Castelow shine in their portrayals of strong individualistic women.

Overall, this show doesn't solve any hard problems, but it beguilingly sums up a life, and life in general.

4 and a half stars from me.

Yes.  Reviews early-to-mid morning tomorrow.

Most of them are out now, ranging from 2-4 stars and a very thoughtful one from Ben Brantley in The NYTimes

www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/theater/leopoldstadt-review-tom-stoppard.html

The Times (UK) one seems singularly inept, I have to say, even as someone myself who had issues with the play. Has Clive Davis even ever SEEN a Stoppard play? Hmmm.