Everything Theatre Reviews, interviews and news for theatre lovers, London and beyond
Tom Stoppard’s seminal play about rock music and Czech politics is brilliantly brought to life, allowing us to peer inside the characters’ lives to observe where drama and politics meet.Summary
Rating
Excellent
A Tom Stoppard play is always a big event, as he is one of the country’s best known and most celebrated playwrights. Thus, my expectations were high for Hampstead Theatre’s new production of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Rock ‘n’ Roll follows the friendship between Max and Jan, from the Prague Spring to the Velvet Revolution. Max is a British Communist who still believes in the Russian Revolution, whilst Jan is a Czech student with an interest in rock and roll who becomes disillusioned.
Jan, Max and his family debate the influence of rock and roll on socialist politics, via the Plastic People of the Universe and Syd Barrett, and discuss Ancient Greek poet Sappho and theories of the mind. These are weighty topics, but most of the drama comes from the characters. Politics is people interacting, and the strength of this production is the vividness with which these human interactions come to life.
There are excellent performances from the whole cast, particularly Nathaniel Parker as Max and Jacob Fortune-Lloyd as Jan. Jan and Max’s ageing is conveyed through changes in posture and movement, which mirrors how their politics change or becomes more entrenched. Also excellent are Phoebe Horn and Nancy Carroll, playing multiple roles as their characters age.
A lot Rock ‘n’ Roll revolves around the ideological clashes between different far-left movements. These wider conflicts drive the character drama, but it is also where we see most clearly that politics is people interacting. The engrossing way that these characters are brought to life makes these abstract political conflicts a powerful source of tension.
The staging is minimal, often using only simple furniture and a record player, however it is always very effective. The placement of chairs and tables convey power dynamics and the wider social forces; from an adversarial Czech government official at a table and Jan alone under a spotlight, to the communal finale taking place as Max’s family gather around a table for a meal. The staging always adds to our emotional connection to these characters.
Of course, a play about rock and roll has a great soundtrack, from Pink Floyd to The Rolling Stones. Songs are weaved into the narrative by a cast member standing to one side with a guitar or a record playing. This music then moves from the equipment on stage to being played through speakers, blurring the line between diegetic and nondiegetic sound. The presence of a figure on the edge of the drama playing music, identified as Syd Barrett and the god Pan at different moments, further blurs this line. This gives us the sense that we are in the room, watching these characters. We also see secret police entering apartments, searching for evidence of dissidence and a key moment revolves around a file of surveillance. This makes the audience complicit in the political pressure on Jan. We are the surveillance state peering into their lives. Staging the play in the round further increases this sense that we are spying on intimate moments.
Performance, staging and music bring to life Stoppard’s brilliant writing and allow us to see intimately into these characters’ lives. The brilliance of Rock ‘n’ Roll is that we are brought inside these personal moments where huge abstract political issues become character drama.
Written by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Nina Raine
Rock ‘n’ Roll plays at Hampstead Theatre until 27 January 2024. Further information and bookings can be found here.
