Tom StoppardThe World’s a Stage

Biographical Overview

• Born in 1937 in Czechoslovakia

• German invasion prompted move to Singapore

• Father killed in Japanese invasion; extended family killed in Holocaust

Biographical Overview

• 1942—mother and brother evacuated to India

• Attended an American school

• 1945—mother married Major Kenneth Stoppard in the British Army in India

• 1946—family settled in England

Biographical Overview

• Worked as journalist—film and theater critic

• 1960—began writing plays, novels, and radio plays

• 1967—gained fame with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Biographical Overview

• Writes for film, television, radio, and the stage

• Three Tony-Award-winning plays

• 1999—won Oscar for Shakespeare in Love

Postmodern Characteristics

• Mixture of high art and popular culture

• Literary Allusions

• Historical dislocation/anachronism

• Humor/Parody/Sense of the Absurd

Postmodern Characteristics

• Use of fantasy

• Blurring boundaries between life and art

• Stage as metaphor for postmodern reality

The Real Inspector Hound

• Parodies the traditional mystery and theater criticism

• Implies that clear solutions and neatly resolved endings are no longer viable in postmodern reality

• There is no “Real” Inspector Hound!

• Expresses the tenuous nature of existential reality—we can “script” multiple realities

Shakespeare in Love

• Scene 1

• Scene 2

Shakespeare in Love

• Scene 3

Paltrow as Thomas Kent playing RomeoAnd Lady Viola playing Juliet

Shakespeare in Love

• Scene 4

• Scene 5

Viola and Shakespeare on stage as Juliet and Romeo