The Citadel Theatre - Rock ‘n’ Roll

Rock ‘n’ Roll
AUDIENCE ADVISORY
Strong Language

Revolutionary politics, revolutionary music

CANADIAN PREMIERE

By TOM STOPPARD
Directed by DONNA FEORE

November 7 – 29, 2009
Shoctor Theatre

A co-production with The Canadian Stage Company, Toronto

“Reid is simply superb, the anchor of the evening. Stoppard’s … characters, their hopes, contradictions and attachments, will rock your heart.”
–Liz Nicholls, Edmonton Journal More »
“Triumphant. Rock ‘n’ Roll is arguably Stoppard's finest play.” –The New York Times
“Tom Stoppard has written one of the great political plays in the English language, and like all great political plays, it resonates with humanity.” –London Times
“An irrepressible anthem of love and freedom. Political argument, family drama, history lesson, cultural commentary, love story – Rock ‘n’ Roll is all these things and more!”
–The Boston Globe

Play Guide

Tom Stoppard’s sweeping, rapturous epic spans two countries, three generations and 22 turbulent years. The play follows the passions and politics of a Marxist professor in Cambridge and his music-obsessed protégé fighting for freedom in Soviet-dominated Prague. An intellectual, thought-provoking drama, Rock ‘n’ Roll is not a musical, but an extraordinary theatrical event about love, rock ‘n’ roll, revolution and the end of Communism, pulsing to the beat of Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, U2 and others.

Winner of London Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play

Baez, Reed serenade Vaclav Havel
CBC News
November 15, 2009

Velvet Memories
Marching in the Czech revolution, 20 years ago
By NANCY DURHAM
CBC News
November 13, 2009

Here's Looking at You, Syd
by Tom Stoppard
Vanity Fair
November 2007
How did one of pop music's epic breakdowns — that of Pink Floyd’s dashing, mentally ill, drug-addled front man, Syd Barrett — find a place in a drama about Communist Czechoslovakia? The author recalls the genesis of his most recent play, Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Q & A with Tom Stoppard
Vanity Fair
October 2007

Running time for this production is approximately 2 hours 40 minutes. There is one 20-minute intermission.