Photo images for Tom Stoppard’s “Rock ‘N’ Roll”

High resolution photos are available below for The Western Stage's production of Rock 'N' Roll by Tom Stoppard. Most are approximately 5" x 7" at 300 dpi. Just right click (or Control click for Mac) the thumbnail to download the full photo.

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Photo ID and credit: Photo by Richard Green.
Jan: Jeff McGrath; Max: Larry Welch; Eleanor: Jani Davis.

NOTE: For identification purposes, Jan is the man in leather jacket; Max is the man in blue jeans and vest; Eleanor is the woman in a dress.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 14, 2010
CONTACT: Ron Cacas (831) 759-6012
E-MAIL:
AUTHOR: Written by Daniel Tarker, TWS Writer
SUPPLEMENTAL ARTICLE: Rock Out at The Western Stage by Daniel Tarker
CAST LIST: Download cast list (Acrobat pdf).

Rock ‘N’ Roll at The Western Stage

Salinas, CA — July 12, 2010

The Western Stage continues its 2010 season with Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, playing July 30th - August 22 in the Studio Theater, Hartnell College Performing Arts building. Spanning 22 years between the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, this tour de force drama explores the power of art to free the human spirit. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 2:00 pm. Reserve your seats through The Western Stage ticket office at (831) 755-6816 or online at westernstage.com. For group sales, contact Ron Cacas at (831) 759-6012. (93 Word PSA)

Over forty years since Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, securing Tom Stoppard’s position as the leading dramatist of his generation, he still remains one of the most vital and interesting voices writing for theatre today. Yet, despite being praised for his intellectual depth, playful wordplay, and unconventional dramaturgy, there has always been one lingering criticism of his work. With the exception of The Real Thing, which explored his struggles with love and marriage, Stoppard has rarely revealed much of his personal side in his plays.

Yet with his 2006 drama Rock ‘n’ Roll, which opens at The Western Stage on July 30th, Stoppard seems to have opened up more than ever before. Called a “triumphantly sentimental play” by Ben Brantley of the New York Times, this exploration of music, politics, and love set against the backdrop of Czechoslovakia’s struggle under communism plays through August 22 in the Studio Theater in the Hartnell College Performing Art building.

“He is writing about himself,” says Jon Patrick Selover, The Western Stage’s artistic director who is also heading up this production. “It’s so obvious that the central character of the play, Jan, is a representation of Stoppard.”

For someone who doesn’t know much about Stoppard’s biography, the claim that this intellectual British playwright would have anything in common with a Czech dissident with an all consuming love for Western Rock ‘n’ Roll may seem like a stretch. However, Stoppard was actually born in Czechoslovakia, but his family fled during World War II when the Nazi’s invaded his homeland, traveling first to Singapore and eventually India. After his father died during the war, his mother married a British army officer, Kenneth Stoppard, and moved her family to England. Due to these upheavals, Stoppard was spared the post-war political turbulence that befell the land of his birth — the invasion of the Soviet Union which established an oppressive Communist regime to oversee the country, the Prague Spring of 1969 which ushered in a brief period of liberation and artistic expression under the leadership if Slovak Alexander Dub?ek, the harsh re-establishment of Communism only a few months later, and finally the Velvet revolution which overthrew the Communist government and re-established Democracy in 1989.

Selover believes Stoppard is using the character of Jan in this play to explore what might have happened to him if his family had returned to his home country after World War II. At the beginning of the play we find Jan studying Philosophy in Cambridge under the tutorage of Max, an irascible Communist lion who still believes in the Socialist utopia. Yet, when the Prague Spring is cut short by Russian tanks, Jan returns to Czechoslovakia and finds himself drawn into the dissident movement as he sees local Rock ‘n’ Roll bands, most notably The Plastic People of the Universe, persecuted for their counter-culture and potentially destabilizing influence.

In true Stoppardian form, this intellectually nimble drama tackles everything from the debates about the virtues of old school communism versus capitalism, Sapphic poetry, and how best to rebel against an oppressive government — through intellectual letters of protest or through subversive actions like wearing long hair and playing rock and roll. With a soundtrack that includes The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Velvet Underground, and The Plastic People of the Universe, this tour de force is certainly one of the most entertaining and engaging plays Stoppard has written in years.

The design team includes David Parker (scenic), Derek Duarte (Lights), Rhonda Kirkpatrick (Costumes), and Jeff Mockus (Sound).

Rock ‘n’ Roll plays Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 2:00 pm in the Studio Theater at the Hartnell Performance Arts building. Season tickets are always the best option. Reserve your seats through The Western Stage ticket office at (831) 755-6816 or online. For group sales, contact Ron Cacas at (831) 759-6012.