Customer Reviews

The Coast of Utopia: Voyage, Shipwreck, Salvage

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Stoppard's Coast of Utopia is marvelous, and reading the plays before you see them enhances the experience. For his canvas, Stoppard uses Russia in the mid 19th century, a period of tremendous turmoil that saw the Decembrist uprising of 1825, the death of Nicholas I, the emancipation of the serfs, and growing revolutionary sentiment in that huge and backward land. The other backdrop for Coast of Utopia is the political and social unrest in Europe, including the various revolutions of 1848, and the development of socialist/communist political theory.

For his story, Stoppard traces the lives of various of the young Russian intellectuals (for whom the term intelligentsia was coined) who saw their country's backwardness, oppression and poverty and dreamed and dared that it could be different. The central characters in The Coast of Utopia are Alexander Herzen, Michael Bakunin, Nicholas Ogarev, Ivan Turgenev and Vissarion Belinsky, but other historical figures also play roles.

The Russian intellectuals who sought change in Russia were hampered by many obstacles; harsh censorship, which made open political dialogue a crime punishable by exile or worse, an utter absence of democratic institutions, a huge peasant class that was largely ignorant of and oblivious to their efforts, and the Tsar and a coterie of landowners, bureaucrats and priests who were largely satisfied with the status quo.

In The Coast of Utopia, Stoppard adroitly mixes social themes with political theory and history. As one might imagine, as these Russians groped for ideas about how their country should be reformed, there were differences of opinion. Initially, the reformers, such as Herzen, favored gradual reform, led by the Tsar; as the 19th century progressed, more radical thought, influenced by Marx, came to predominate, and more moderate voices, such as Herzen's, were drowned out by the increasing call for violent revolution. Stoppard does a fabulous job in showing the various intellectual currents that ran among the exiles by having them argue out their theories on stage in the course of the play.

All this might sound talky and dull, but it's not, for two reasons. One is Stoppard's genius at showing how real people discuss these ideas. One minute we have two characters debating Hegel; the next minute they're attending their children, just the way real life interrupts all sorts of activities. And the lives of the main characters were sometimes untidy, and for that reason interesting; we see their joys, their sorrows, their love affairs and their occasional melancholy on being separated from Russia for so long.

The second is the staging of the plays; I could go on and on, but I was utterly wowed by the Lincoln Center production, it is magnificent and at times transcendent.

But ultimately what makes Coast of Utopia so interesting is that it's a series of plays about ideas, what is the best way to modernize and democratize a backward society. Of course, we see this play through the lens of history, after the revolution in Russia and after communism has been justifiably relegated to the dustbin of history. So we know how disastrous the actual revolution proved to be. But one of the strengths of Stoppard's work is that he doesn't fall prey to easy triumphalism about the later result. Instead he shows these men, mostly in a sympathetic light, trying to imagine a better society for Russia, and then taking the first steps toward making that better Russia come to pass. Without a doubt, Stoppard sees Herzen as his hero, and Herzen, with remarkable prescience, clearly saw the risks of the absolutism to come. But despite his sympathy for Herzen's humanistic views, Stoppard also gives fair voice to the radicals, so that a balanced picture of the political thought of the era emerges.

Stoppard has acknowledged his debt to Isaiah Berlin's Russian Thinkers in writing The Coast of Utopia. If you are interested in the ideas in The Coast of Utopia or the history of 19th century Russia, Russian Thinkers is well worth reading.

A sincere admirer of Stoppard's plays (G and R are dead... Arcadia.. in particular), I think this time he went too far and overdid it. Too many words, and too much time for the story he tells and for the matter he is dealing with. He should be forced to restrain everything in a third of the whole. For the rest, everything is all right: characters, dialogue, singles scenes... But the writing is also a bit too naturalistic, too many details, too many indications for the actors: it looks sometimes like a script for a movie. Some English authors seem to become "longer" as they grow older (see also Ayckburn): and this is strange! In my case (I am a playwright too, and three of my plays have been produced in Atlanta and New York) I feel a need for the essential.
Luigi Lunari
and sorry for my somewhat personal English

I am pasting here my letter on the topic sent today (Febr, 19, 2007) to "The New York Times" in response to the review of Mr. Stoppard's work by Ben Brantley:

I admire Ben Brantley for his skill of writing a seemingly positive review of Tom Stoppard's "The Coast of Utopia" (Febr. 19) filled with such phrases, unfortunately fully justified, as: "I wouldn't call it a major work of art" or "But as for major insights of philosophical or historical weight, that's not what "Utopia" is about."

First, my background: since seeing Mr. Stoppard's "Arcadia" in London about 10 years ago my wife and I have become great admirers of its author, we have never missed any of his plays until now when, after attending the first two parts of "Utopia", we decided to skip the last part (though we've read it). Also, with our school education in Russia, we understand a thing or two about the history of the Russian political thought.

With this background, it is painful for me to use the word "failure" to describe the last Mr. Stoppard's venture but regretfully I cannot find another word. A noisy long production - everything could be said in just three hours - with more than 60 characters, it exhibits no unity, no central idea and eventually no purpose. There are three major books on the topic written at that time: "The Fathers and the Sons" by a liberal Turgenev, "The Possessed" by a conservative Dostoevsky and "My Past and Thoughts" by a centrist Herzen ("Utopia" is in significant degree is simply a stage version of Herzen's book), and they give a much better idea of what really happened in Russia at that time. Orwell's "1984" may be considered as an important 20th century commentary to the first three books.

Of course, the fall of communism does call for some reconsideration and the new insight. As a man who combines both Eastern European and the Western cultural traditions, Mr. Stoppard was uniquely placed to give us such insight, and we eagerly waited for this his work. What we got instead may be best described by Mr. Brantley's words: "...you could find a snapper, shorter version of the same idea in a fortune cookie."

This is what a play should be. Coast is challenging, engaging and demanding but in a way that leaves you wanting more. Stoppard has the highest respect for his audiences, a good thing, in this day of pandering to the lowest common denominator. Although he's been accused of didacticism, Stoppard leavens the heaviness with good doses of humor, not unlike G.B. Shaw. If you didn't get a chance to see the play performed, read it at the very least.

Stoppard's eloquence and wit are only the beginning. The subject is monumental and speaks to our times. Wisdom emerges at the perfect pace. Catharsis at the end. I have seen the trilogy and will see it twice more in marathon experiences. Reading the text beforehand enhances the understanding of the contest and of what takes place. If you don't recognize the importance of The Decembrists, please review some history before seeing and/or reading the trilogy. If you don't know at least a bit about Tsar Alexander, please look at wikipedia and go from there. Very timely and relevant and ominous.
And if you read the inspiring text either before or after the experience, the catharsis will be even more powerful. If you havent't seen the epic, this is a must-read.
Thank you, Tom Stoppard (and ensemble) for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
"Rock & Roll" goes further.
IMO, this is a transformational work which materially enhances Stoppard's prospects for already likely Nobel Prize.
What next? What a genius.
Unforgettable lessons to be learned dramatically.

Tom Stoppard's three play series "The Coast of Utopia" was mounted at the Lincoln Center where I was privileged to see the dramas on separate nights. The plays about early nineteenth century Russia were brilliantly staged; the scenic effects were breath-taking; the acting was superb; and the thrust stage was used in novel ways with fast-paced exits and entrances; and the revolving stage, elevators and trap doors were integrated successfully with the action.
Here in this three volume set, we have the texts in which Stoppard tries to dramatize philosophical and ideological conceits. He writes in English, but unfortunately much of it turns out to be unfathomable gibberish. A brilliant turn of phrase becomes merely bombast. His sense of humor is sharp, but his sense of the dramatic is blunted.
We have anarchists, anti-Czarists, nihilists and serfs, landowners, sparkling women, and would-be bomb throwers who are content with editing polemical magazines. Stoppard's abstractions, high level generalizations, obtuse theories, obfuscations, and cloudy reasoning swirl in and around the theatergoers' heads. Although in the theater the lines go by with dizzying speed, the armchair reader will have time to parse and reflect.
Years ago I saw a marathon nine hour "Nicholas Nickleby" adapted from the Dickens novel on stage. It was magnificently acted and staged. It was dramatic and emphatically lucid. Dickens wanted to be a playwright and an actor, and it shows in his theatrical novels. Stoppard apparently wanted to be a philosopher, and it shows in his erudite plays. When one attempts to dramatize ideas, one runs the risk of creating cotton candy: fluffy, gauzy, and nebulous.
Some of the characters are based upon real personages of the period like Turgenev, and the views they spout come from their writings. Stoppard had the great good fortune to have first-class actors saying his lines. Readers who have the time and patience will find these play scripts well worth reading, and if they have the good fortune to see them in live performances, they will be doubly rewarded.

There are moments of theater magic in "Coast of Utopia." There is a seemingly unimportant scene - a mother chasing after the little boy, calling his name: "Kolya!" His sister says: "He can't hear you." Twenty minutes later, Kolya is sitting in the middle of the stage, with a noisy, busy party around him, and suddenly all sound ceases - if not movement - and we, the audience, experience what the deaf boy hears.

The silence is strangely warm, comforting. Then, there is the low rumble of thunder far away and we know why that threshold sound makes the four-year-old uneasy. This is not just a theater "moment" - it serves a vital purpose: later, when news of Kolya's death devastates his family, it hits a nerve out in the audience as well.

There are instances, many, of meaningfully funny lines. A Russian aristocrat, from a country of peasants and the upper crust, with nothing in-between, tells Karl Marx that he has finally met some "real workers." Marx asks, earnestly: "What are they like?"

But, beyond the episodic, what about the big picture? Longer than a flight from San Francisco, Tom Stoppard's "The Coast of Utopia" presents three full-length plays over a span of 12 hours. Unlike a commercial flight, these three plays with nautical titles at the National Theatre "Voyage," "Shipwreck," "Salvage" - don't quite land at the intended destination.

In fact, this gigantic project bogs down two-thirds through the way, and those who have started wondering, "are we there yet?" now slowly realize the surprising, disappointing fact that the plays have been misnamed.

"Shipwreck" is the right name (and characterization) for the last play, and the middle work should best be known as "No Harbor Yet in Sight, But This Is Where We Drop Anchor, Resisting the Temptation of Adding Yet Another Play (No Matter How Much Material I Found in Years of Diligent Research)."

I can't understand what happened, how the halting, padded, meaningless and unnecessary first act of the last play came about - one of the weakest pieces among Stoppard's published writing. As one who invested eagerly in the long journey and the 12-hour residence in the Olivier Theatre, as an admirer of the playwright, I expected something more - if not the virtual perfection of "Arcadia," at least a good, cohesive play such as "The Invention of Love," to mention just the last two of Stoppard's plays.

No grand triptych like this can be all perfect, a certain amount of up-and-down is acceptable, but the thud of the writing hitting such low - a few housekeeping items and the treatment of an unnecessary character (Malwida) stretched out to a numbing 90-minute act - is inexplicable.

This very good trilogy is devoted to one of Stoppard's favorite themes, the interaction of personality and ideas. Why do certain people adopt certain types of ideas? How do ideas change behavior? What is the nature of the interaction? Stoppard explores these questions at some length in this set of plays about the mid-19th century Russian intelligentsia. Based primarily on Isiah Berlin's essays on these individuals, collected in his Russian Thinkers, Stoppard focuses on the circle of Alexander Herzen, the moderate reformer who is one of the most attractive representatives of the Russian intelligentsia. Stoppard explores the Romantic Idealism of these individuals, their absorption in revolutionary politics, the considerable ironic tension between their declared ideas and personal conduct, and the way in which ideas shape and are shaped by personal preoccupations. While Herzen himself hardly escapes critical scrutiny, The Coast of Utopia is ultimately an endorsement of Herzen's humane and non-doctrinaire vision of life.

Drawing on his considerable stagecraft and ability to write clever and compelling dialogue, all the plays in this trilogy are entertaining, sometimes powerful, and psychologically insightful. This is not, however, Stoppard's best work. None of the plays in The Coast of Utopia are as powerful as Arcadia or The Invention of Love, or as inventive as some of his earlier plays like Jumpers. While Stoppard does develop his characters well over the course of the trilogy I found that the individual plays were somewhat thematically repetitive and that there was little cumulative impact.

I was delighted to finally be able to read these plays after reading so much about them. I don't live anywhere near New York and it would be impossible to see these plays either in a 'marathon' performance or separately. But reading and imagining (aided by the production photos in the TCG magazine) made it a good, though vicarious experience.