I Remember Tom Stoppard More as a Screenwriter Than a Playwright!
A dramatist of aplomb for the Royal National Theatre, he is internationally known to have written for stage, radio, films and television. Coincidentally, when the news came out of Stoppard's passing away, I was wrapped up in the warm comfort of watching a Christmas movie.
Emilia Clarke, as Katarina in the Christmas movie ‘Last Christmas’, and Tom Stoppard had something in common. They both were staying as immigrants in London. Stoppard, after fleeing Nazi occupation, briefly studied in Darjeeling, India thereafter settled in England.
From the first of the literary figures in the pages of history books to watching his work reproduced on screen with ‘Shakespeare in Love’ and ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’, I had to know more about the man who received an Academy Award for the Best Original Screenplay for ‘Shakespeare in Love.’
Placed at par with the dramatist, George Bernard Shaw and William Shakespeare in theatrical performances, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth the Second in 1997, later receiving the Order of Merit in 2000, making him a prominent figure in British culture.
Stoppard has received numerous awards for his works. One of the most that stands out is ‘Shakespeare in Love’. Not only has it received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, but it has also received three Laurence Olivier Awards as well as five Tony Awards. Together with Marc Norman, Stoppard wrote a fictional romantic tryst between the playwright William Shakespeare and Viola de Lesseps. The movie is a feast to Shakespeare enthusiasts as it consists of several historical figures, characters and lines that are primarily alluding to Shakespeare’s plays. If you have been an English graduate, you will feel the reverberations of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. It takes me back to the classroom, and Stoppard’s demise feels really personal.
Stoppard’s final play, ‘Leopoldstadt’, remains his last premiered play in the year 2020 at Wyndham Theatre. It again won the Laurence Olivier Award as well as the Tony Award.
IMAGE CREDIT: BRITANNICA