Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll

A new play by Tom Stoppard is a major event. With Rock 'n' Roll in previews at the Royal Court, he has been featured in The Independent, The Observer and The Times.

“Prosecuting rock’n’roll musicians [in communist Czechoslovakia] was, if anything, more significant than arresting some famous scientist or academic,” says Stoppard. “Because the scientists, the poet, the essayist were actively opposing the regime, whereas the musicians were just a pain in the arse. What Havel realised was that this represented something very dangerous: now the state could put you into jail simply for being the wrong sort of bloke.”