LEOPOLDSTADT
****
Director: Patrick Marber (play)
Playwright: Tom Stoppard
Principal cast:
Aidan McArdle
Faye Castelow
Sebastian Armesto
Caroline Gruber
Clara Francis
Aaron Neil
Country: UK
Classification: CTC
Runtime: 140 mins.
Australian release date: 5 February 2022.
Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard’s most recent work, Leopoldstadt, is considered a personal statement from one of Britain’s greatest living dramatists. Stoppard’s Czech and Jewish heritage inspired him to cover the lives of four generations of the Merz family in Vienna from 1899/1900 to 1955, including the atrocities some faced when they were incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The vast 55-year period covered in the play is performed by a large cast of 26 adults and 15 children; it is truly epic in its sweep of 20th century history.
Mainly set in a grand Viennese home, the saga covers the family gathering to celebrate various events in the Jewish and Christian calendars, including Passover, Christmas and a bris (circumcision), plus historical events such as the Anschluss (the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938), Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) and the Holocaust. As the years progress, the family discusses assimilation versus Zionism, the rigours of war and revolution, impoverishment and their persecution by the Nazis. The Merz family tree begins in 1899 with factory owner Hermann (Aiden McArdle), who believes that Jews can become fully-integrated into Austrian society if they’re successful, his Catholic wife Gretl (Faye Castelow), and matriarch Grandma Emilia (Caroline Gruber), before branching out into assorted limbs of the extended family. It concludes in 1955 with a devastating finale when two cousins, Nathan (Sebastian Armesto) and Leo (Arty Froushano), meet again after many years in the ruins of the Merz’s Viennese home.
Leopoldstadt had a sell-out season and received rave reviews in London, despite some performances being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the production was presented with the Olivier Award for Best New Play. Featuring a fine musical score by Adam Cork and spare but evocative set design by Richard Hudson, and accompanied by atmospheric lighting by Neil Austin and stylish costumes by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, this generational epic is a dramatic masterpiece that is thoroughly engrossing for its full two hours and ten minutes (there’s no interval but the running time includes an introduction and other information about the play). Brought to our screens by National Theatre Live and filmed at Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End, Leopoldstadt is a moving theatrical experience that should not be missed. It could well be Stoppard’s last play – he’s now 84 and, by his own admission, taking longer and longer to complete new work.
Playwright: Tom Stoppard
Principal cast:
Aidan McArdle
Faye Castelow
Sebastian Armesto
Caroline Gruber
Clara Francis
Aaron Neil
Country: UK
Classification: CTC
Runtime: 140 mins.
Australian release date: 5 February 2022.
Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard’s most recent work, Leopoldstadt, is considered a personal statement from one of Britain’s greatest living dramatists. Stoppard’s Czech and Jewish heritage inspired him to cover the lives of four generations of the Merz family in Vienna from 1899/1900 to 1955, including the atrocities some faced when they were incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The vast 55-year period covered in the play is performed by a large cast of 26 adults and 15 children; it is truly epic in its sweep of 20th century history.
Mainly set in a grand Viennese home, the saga covers the family gathering to celebrate various events in the Jewish and Christian calendars, including Passover, Christmas and a bris (circumcision), plus historical events such as the Anschluss (the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938), Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) and the Holocaust. As the years progress, the family discusses assimilation versus Zionism, the rigours of war and revolution, impoverishment and their persecution by the Nazis. The Merz family tree begins in 1899 with factory owner Hermann (Aiden McArdle), who believes that Jews can become fully-integrated into Austrian society if they’re successful, his Catholic wife Gretl (Faye Castelow), and matriarch Grandma Emilia (Caroline Gruber), before branching out into assorted limbs of the extended family. It concludes in 1955 with a devastating finale when two cousins, Nathan (Sebastian Armesto) and Leo (Arty Froushano), meet again after many years in the ruins of the Merz’s Viennese home.
Leopoldstadt had a sell-out season and received rave reviews in London, despite some performances being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the production was presented with the Olivier Award for Best New Play. Featuring a fine musical score by Adam Cork and spare but evocative set design by Richard Hudson, and accompanied by atmospheric lighting by Neil Austin and stylish costumes by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, this generational epic is a dramatic masterpiece that is thoroughly engrossing for its full two hours and ten minutes (there’s no interval but the running time includes an introduction and other information about the play). Brought to our screens by National Theatre Live and filmed at Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End, Leopoldstadt is a moving theatrical experience that should not be missed. It could well be Stoppard’s last play – he’s now 84 and, by his own admission, taking longer and longer to complete new work.