The Invention of Love
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The Invention of Love is a play by Tom Stoppard portraying the life of poet A.E. Housman, focusing specifically on his personal life and love for a college classmate. The play is written from the viewpoint of Housman dealing with his memories after dying and contains many classical allusions. Arguably Stoppard's finest play, it has nonetheless been criticized for being too esoteric. In fact, to demystify the play's many historical and academic references, the New York production team provided the audiences with a 30-page booklet on the political and artistic history of the late-Victorian period.
[edit] Synopsis
The play begins with A.E. Housman, dead at age 77, standing on the bank of the river Styx. Upon boarding his boat for the afterlife--captained by a petulant Charon - Housman begins to remember moments from his life, starting with his matriculation to Oxford University, where he studied Classics. The play unfolds as a collection of short scenes that trace, primarily, Housman's relationship with Moses Jackson, the man for whom Housman harboured a life-long, unrequited love. The scenes also explore the late-Victorian artistic ideals as well as Housman's intellectual growth into a preeminent Latin textual scholar. Throughout the play, the older Housman comments on and occasionally talks to the characters on stage, including his younger self.
[edit] Production history
The play premièred at the Cottesloe Theatre in the Royal National Theatre, London, on 1 October 1997. The old Housman was played by John Wood and the young Housman by Paul Rhys. The director was Richard Eyre.
The play's Broadway run was at the Lyceum Theatre. It opened on March 29, 2001, starring Richard Easton as the older Housman and Robert Sean Leonard as the young Housman. Both actors won Tony Awards for their performances, Easton winning Best Actor in a Play, Leonard winning Best Featured Actor in a Play.
[edit] External links
| The Plays of Tom Stoppard |
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| 15-Minute Hamlet, After Magritte, Arcadia, Cahoot's Macbeth, The Coast of Utopia, Dalliance, Dirty Linen and New-Found-Land, Dogg's Hamlet, Enter a Free Man, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Hapgood, Indian Ink, The Invention of Love, Jumpers, Night and Day, On the Razzle, Professional Foul, The Real Inspector Hound, The Real Thing, Rock 'n' Roll, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Rough Crossing, Travesties, Undiscovered Country |
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