Tom Stoppard (July 3, 1937 – November 29, 2025): Playwright of his generation.
Playwright Tom Stoppard has died.
He was not just “playwright” in the limited sense of writer of brilliant, crowd-pleasing and critically acclaimed stage events. He also wrote a number of radio and TV plays, and many movies including Brazil (1985), Empire of the Sun (1987), The Russia House (1990), Billy Bathgate (1991), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Enigma (2001), and Anna Karenina (2012). Those of us who didn’t get to see or hear all the plays read them like novels, imagining each scene in our own theater.
When the BBC wanted to mark the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon in 2013, they asked Stoppard to create a radio play. The result is Darkside, which integrates dramatic wit and philosophy into the album. Who does that? Who could do that?
Here are three descriptions and appreciations from the Guardian on the occasion of his death:
Tom Stoppard, playwright of dazzling wit and playful erudition, dies aged 88
Tom Stoppard: a brilliant dramatist who always raised the temperature of the room
Where to start with Tom Stoppard: from Brazil to Leopoldstadt
Long ago, my high school English class took a trip to see a Broadway show newly arrived from Britain. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead was the play that launched Stoppard’s career. You may find the film version, which Stoppard directed, or you may and should read the play. The trick, which he used later in Shakespeare in Love, was to weave together familiar Shakespeare with universal modern issues. I was already a lover of great plays and playwrights, but seeing this play changed what I thought plays, in fact any artistic creation, could be. I have been with Stoppard for the decades since.
Sample Stoppard however you can. It might change you too.
Bob Schwartz 