Tom Stoppard Forum
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| by Mike, the long distance scribbler. Well, as an aspiring playwright and screenwriter who still hasn't made it, I have to say T.S. must know a thing or two I don't. There is a forcefullness about his busy scripts which gets them moving even though a lot of the themes are of cul de sacs and wrong turns that his characters make, and their ultimate journey is usually a pointless round robin excursion to nowhere and back. I suppose it's the intellectual scenery they see, and we too observe along the way that is the real point, or at least the focus point of his plot journeys. So they're psycho analytical pieces then? Well, not sure if they are, in the correct sense. They are not deep journeys into the soul or psyche a'la Conrad or Ibsen, more light but very busy bussiness trips, where the notes of what their crowded minds can cram in, are furiously jotted down before the inevitable interplay between them, the inspired but confused patient/maverick and the very clear minded but intrasigently conservative doctor/matron/establishment figure. I can't remember who usually wins, if anyone, as I have to say I am usually exhausted way before the denouement arrives. You have to be a lover of words and mainly just for words' sake, to take on a major Stoppard play, or piece as they are more aptly described. Interesting, if you can stay the pace, but a long way short of Pinter's penetration of character, or Becket's depth of subject/non subject. Wish I had his professionalism and conviction to get projects on the agent's desk, one after another though. That really is an art in itself, whether the things are worthy or not as pieces of drama! A dramatist for students to study, more than to enjoy, I feel, in my humble little way. Comment on this... |
