Rock 'N' Roll

An older review, but since the play is still running, I wanted to post it.

Rock 'N' Roll
Play written by Tom Stoppard
January 25, 2008, 8pm
Orch I 114

Rock 'N' Roll follows the lives of two men, Jan (Rufus Sewell) in Czechoslovakia and Max (Brian Cox) in England over the course of 30 years. The acting is fantastic, and I am looking forward to seeing it again—so I can figure out what the hell it was about. From Coast of Utopia, Stoppard's previous Russian tour-de-force, we learned that the thing to do with a Stoppard play is arrive 15 minutes early so we have time to read the program insert by the production's dramaturg. Without it (or a comprehensive knowledge of both Czech and Communist history as well as Rock and Roll's place in history), we would be lost.

Production note: The way they showed what language the Czech characters were using was if a Czech character were speaking to an English character, he would speak with a Czech accent and, in Jan's case, hesitant English. If only Czech characters were together, they would all speak in the actor's normal accents to indicate they were speaking Czech and there were no language barriers.

The format of the play was like this: Imagine that you were going to write a play about someone's life, and you wanted to cover 30 years. So, for each year, write down the main happening of that year. Now, write a scene set the day before whatever it is happens. Link the scenes together with different rock songs of the year you are portraying. This is Rock 'N' Roll. But don't let this put you off.

Somehow, following this method, avoiding the days of high emotion, Stoppard has created a play of emotional intelligence that is an ultimately joyous, loving, and intensely moving story of forgiveness and awakening, both on a personal and social level.

Max is a Cambridge professor and card-carrying communist, highly respected in the party, but as the years go on, he stays in as others fall out, and the question arises: why? His beloved wife is dying of cancer, his hippie daughter has a baby, and the play advances to show the daughter growing into a meek woman and the granddaughter into an intellectual prodigy. (Wife and grown daughter are both played wonderfully by Sinead Cusack and Alice Eve adorably doubles as daughter and granddaughter.)

Jan is Max's former student, a native Czech who returned to his homeland, having failed Max's expectations that he would take up the party flag. Jan is a quiet young man, his only wish to be left alone with his records of the rock and roll he learned to love in England. He does not seek to buck the system. However, his possession of these records is seen as rebellious, and causes trouble for this man with hunched shoulders and inherent meekness who only wants to stay beneath the radar.

Near the end, Jan confesses to Max that although he tried to ignore the system and then to play it, the system broke him and he betrayed Max to it. It was a betrayal that did not affect Max, and which Max would never have known about. "You didn't have to tell me," he says. "No," Jan responds, and erupts in a sob, which, in keeping with the keyed-down emotion of the play, is delivered with his back to the audience so we don't get to see him break down, a privacy rarely given on a stage, but appropriate for this quiet, introspective character. He falls into Max's arms.

It ends with Jan and Esme (Max's daughter) sharing a moment of joy in Czechoslovakia that is, of course, linked to Rock and Roll.

One of the wonderful things about theater is it allows actors to play against type. Logan Marshall Green got the chance in 'Dog Sees God', as one example, and in Rock and Roll, Rufus Sewell has his turn to show us another side of his talent. A modest and humble character is, perhaps, made more moving and sympathetic when embodied by someone with a reputation built on portrayals of cold power, as if we are watching not only the character made meek but the actor, too.

Brian Cox, I have long believed, is one of the best actors of his generation, and it was a joy to see him onstage. When I describe him to people, I say, 'Imagine Brando, without the trouble,' and they get it. That's how I think of Brian Cox.

Revisiting this review now, I have to say that I would absolutely see the play again--after I'd read all the wikipedia entries on Czechoslovakia, of course.