Rock in a Hard Place

Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll

by Mark Cofta

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Published: Sep 30, 2008

Jim Roese ... BUT THEY LIKE IT: Barnaby Carpenter (right) and Ryan Farley's characters rock behind the Iron Curtain. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Fascinating and complex, Rock 'n' Roll is quintessentially both Tom Stoppard and Wilma, an ideal choice for the theater's 30th season opener — even if the end result does not delight all.

To forestall frustration, read the program notes; if you don't know your Dubcek from Husák, the first act's compression of a decade's political events in Czechoslovakia may make your head spin — and, as with somany good things in life, greater effort reaps bigger rewards.

We follow Jan (Barnaby Carpenter), whose faith in communism is tested by the Soviet Union's 1968 invasion of its Czech satellite to restore communist order after the "Prague Spring" period of cultural freedom. We also meet Max (David Chandler), a passionate communist forever defending his ideals, wife Eleanor (the truly amazing Kate Eastwood Norris) and teenage daughter Esme (Libby Woodbridge). Eleanor's struggle with breast cancer, in Norris' powerfully painful portrayal, emotionally dwarfs Jan's reluctance to join dissenters and his fondness for pop music.

Director Blanka Zizka — born, like Stoppard, in Czechoslovakia — keeps the play flowing with Matt Saunders' huge turntable set, which evokes a stark gray world punctuated with temporary color provided by characters and their artifacts. The revolving stage also allows us to view the play's central locations — Jan's Czech apartment and Max's Cambridge home — from a variety of angles, even as we absorb events and relationships from different perspectives. Above, slides of Czech protests and people (as well as comforting date announcements) help set the scene. If sometimes the play seems to pause for the projections — well, that's the Wilma. (I'm more surprised when a Wilma production doesn't feature projections.)

Supporting performances, particularly by Mary McCool as a frisky academic and Ryan Farley as Jan's closest friend, emphasize the human dimensions of a typically dizzying Stoppard script. But Rock 'n' Roll falters in Carpenter's performance, making the play lean toward Chandler's lovable curmudgeon, Max; Jan doesn't age convincingly, and his wigs don't help, but what's really lacking is a sense of romance, both personally and politically.

Nevertheless, what makes Rock 'n' Roll truly great is how Stoppard makes politics personal. The second act pays off with passionate debates and intimate revelations: Norris becomes adult Esme; Woodbridge morphs into Esme's daughter, Alice; and what seemed a dry historical play reveals fascinating ideas and compelling choices about how perspectives shift over time, wrapped in fervent discussions about Sappho's poetry, the brain and the soul and, of course, the music of the times (particularly the strange, sad fate of Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett, and the curious effect of Czech hippies The Plastic People of the Universe on national events).

Stoppard mixes all this and more, breaking through the details of two decades to connect people and ideas in a poetic finale reminiscent of his heady-yet-heartfelt Arcadia, but with rock 'n' roll flair. Governments and philosophies come and go, but nothing crushes the human spirit. Rock on, people.

(m_cofta@citypaper.net)

Rock 'n' Roll | Through Oct. 26, Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., 215-546-7824, wilmatheater.org

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