19th Play - Travesties by Tom Stoppard

I’ve always loved ARCADIA and ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, so I thought I’d dive into this Stoppard play. Reading it hurt my head a little (not uncommon for me when reading a Stoppard play), but there’s a lot of delightful stuff in it!

Summary: “Travesties was born out of Stoppard's noting that in 1917 three of the twentieth century's most crucial revolutionaries -- James Joyce, the Dadaist founder Tristan Tzara, and Lenin -- were all living in Zurich. Also living in Zurich at this time was a British consula official called Henry Carr, a man acquainted with Joyce through the theater and later through a lawsuit concerning a pair of trousers. Taking Carr as his core, Stoppard spins this historical coincidence into a masterful and riotously funny play, a speculative portrait of what could have been the meeting of these profoundly influential men in a germinal Europe as seen through the lucid, lurid, faulty, and wholy riveting memory of an aging Henry Carr.” From Concord Theatricals.

Laura’s thoughts in brief: I loved the idea of this show - a strange combination of important historical humans all in Zurich at the same time, and the protagonist of the play is one of the least important. Henry Carr seems to be basically a historical non-entity, and yet Stoppard creates a whole play around him. Ironically, I read that later Stoppard received a letter from Henry Carr’s wife, which was a total surprise to him. The beginning of the play is … confusing on a read, but might be “clearer” to see. “Clearer” is in quotes because I think Stoppard is leaning into the Dadaist aspect of the play and making things NOT make sense. Then there’s a LONG LONG LONG monologue by Carr, which frankly put me to sleep a bit - too many big, complicated words. Next a dialogue between Carr and his manservent Bennett which started to get more funny, as lines are repeated and Bennett is dry and funny. But the play really comes alive when James Joyce, Gwendolyn and Tzara enter and there is literally a whole scene written in limericks. I loved it! (Wasn’t paying much attention to the content, but …). Then there are several versions (what is reality, really, especially when we’re dealing with the memory of a senile old man?) of an argument between Tzara and Carr about … ? Being an artist, I think, that got long in places and were funny in places. When Joyce finally gets to the plot point of asking Carr to play the lead in his production of The Importance of Being Earnest, the play becomes silly and delightful, Carr being seduced by the idea of the number of costumes he’ll get to wear (ha! been there!). There are some funny sections where you start to feel like you’re actually watching a production of The Importance of Being Earnest, and you know that is intentional. There is definitely some fun had, but overall, I would have preferred something with a little more plot. Again, I believe that is Stoppard enjoying being a bit Dadaist himself, or just preferring to revel in words and philosophic arguments, but frankly not much really happens in the play. Yes, there are several diatribes on the purpose of art, but I guess I’ve gotten tired of listening to white men tell me what they think art is. (Oops, did I say that out loud?) In this play, it’s a lot of talk, and a large portion of it was not that fun to read. I’d watch this play though, and I believe a good production could really bring it to life, including all the talk, although I probably still would not completely understand it. I will say that I left this play both overwhelmed and stunned by the brilliance of Tom Stoppard. His writing is incredibly poetic and sometimes too intelligent for my brain, but it is impressive.

READ MORE! Here’s what others had to say about productions:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/24/theater/travesties-review-tom-stoppard.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/theater/review-travesties-and-finding-new-depth-in-stoppard.html

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/oct/09/travesties-review-tom-hollander-stoppard

https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/remy-bumppo-theatre-aces-tom-stoppards-test-with-travesties/