Rock ‘N’ Roll by Tom Stoppard. Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London NW3. 3***: William Russell.

Rock ‘N’ Roll by Tom Stoppard. Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London NW3.

3***: William Russell.

“Strongly cast revival of a play which for all its interest time has maybe not been kind to.”

Strtongly cast withoutstanding performances from Nathaniel Parker, James Fortune-Lloyd and Nancy Carroll this production in the round by Nina Raine does deserve to draw the town but although the play first seen in 2006 at the Royal Court, and a hit there and on Broadway, remains deeply interesting one gets the feeling that maybe its time has passed. It deals with the events of the Prague Spring in 1968 in which Jan (James Fortune-Lloyd), a music mad student, and Max (Nathaniel Parker), a convinced Communist are involved and then moves to Oxford in 1980 where Max is a don. Somehow what seemed potent in 2006 no longer seems quite as moving and the decision to stage it in the round, something I have never seen this theatre do, has its drawbacks when it comes to seeing what is happening on the very wide stage. From my seat with a very tall person in front the action, which can involve a character at one side and one at the other of the stage, became at times impossible to follow. And when it was centre stage one was forever shifting to either side of the head to see what was going on. I have sat in that particular row before when the auditorium had its usual formation without any sight line problems but one does wonder whether directors ever think of watching things from different parts of the house.

Max remains an unrepentant Communist, Jan – a reluctant dissident inspired by the authorities clamp down on a band called The Plastic People of the Universe having gone back home is eventually released from prison and ends up a baker. He has now come to Oxford to give Max his security file. The play consists of countless tiny scenes interrupted by rock music of the time and the whole never quite comes together. It really is a bit of a mess, However Nancy Carrol in two roles, first as Max’s wife Eleanor, adds to the power of this cast and the play itself provides plenty to talk about afterwards. Just how relevant the events of the Prague Spring are now is certainly one of them.

In a sense it has become a period piece the question being whether it still has anything to say to the present day audience whereas when first staged it did have something to say. Nathaniel Parker makes Max a splendidly blustering figure and ages – he has to walk with a stick by the second act in 1980 – beautifully into a grumpy old man, while James Fortune-Loyd as Jan creates a gangling youth mad about records of rock bands who ends up someone whose life has been working in a bakery doing a dreary job, the academic life he had hoped for vanished into time past.

Cast

Nancy Carroll – Eleanor/Esme.

Hasan Dixon – Ferdinand.

Jacob Fortune-Lloyd – Jam.

Phoebe Horn – Young Esme/ Alice.

Anna Krippa - Lenka.

Georgia Landers – Magda.

Emily Mytton – Candida.

Brenock O’Connor –The Piper/Policeman1/Stephen/Waiter.

Nathaniel Parker - Max.

Colin Tierney – Milan as interrogator/Milan/Policeman 2/Nigel.

Creatives

Director – Nina Raine.

Designer –Anna Reid.

Lighting Designer – Peter Mumford.

Sound Designer –Tingying Dong.

Voice 7 Dialect Coach – Hazel Holder.