СОПРОТИВЛЯЯСЬ ПОСТДРАМЕ: ЭПИЧЕСКИЕ ПЬЕСЫ ТОМА СТОППАРДА

Abstract

Tom Stoppard’s drama has been one of the eminent and internationally known phenomena of contemporary theatre for several decades. Nevertheless, the polemics are still relevant whether Stoppard’s plays belong to postmodern or postdramatic or any other current trend. The article regards Stoppard’s theatrical experiment as a postmodern one. Moreover, the use and even development of postmodern techniques are noted not only as far as his early plays of the 1960s and 70s are concerned, but as a characteristic of the later dramas by Stoppard. Recently the playwright has created three major epic plays characterized by a deep understanding of historical context: “The Coast of Utopia”, “Rock’n’Roll”, and “Leopoldstadt”. The author of the article considers two later plays as original pieces, having in common some autobiographical details. “Rock’n’Roll” presents the years from 1968 to 1990 in Czechoslovakia and compares the interpretation of “freedom” in the West and that under the Communist regime. “Leopoldstadt” is a play about Austrian Jews and the Holocaust. The article analyzes the artistic devices of representation of the cultural and historical background in each of the plays.