Tom Stoppard: Plays 5 : Arcadia, The Real Thing, Night & Day, Indian Ink, Hapgood [Paperback]

Tom Stoppard (Author)

Book Description

Series: Faber Contemporary Classics | Publication Date: December 1, 2000

Plays Five:
Arcadia
The Real Thing
Night & Day;
Indian Ink;
Hapgood

This fifth collection of Tom Stoppard's plays brings together five classic plays by one of the most celebrated dramatists writing in the English language.

Arcadia received the Evening Standard, the Oliver, and the Critics Awards and
The Real Thing won a Tony Award.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Arcadia
"I have never left a new play more convinced that I'd just witnessed a masterpiece."--Daily Telegraph

"This is a brilliant, brilliant play. A play of ideas, of consummate theatricality, of sophisticated entertainment and of heartache for time never to be regained."--Sunday Times

The Real Thing
"In The Real Thing he [Stoppard] combines some fly Pirandellian games with an unequivocal statement about the joyousness of shared passion. And the result is the rare thing in the West End (or anywhere else for that matter): an intelligent play about love."--Guardian

Night & Day;
"How excellent it is to leave a theatre thinking as this play makes you think."--Financial Times

Hapgood
"Hapgood is a new variation on one of Stoppard's abiding themes: the black romance of reality and appearance. This is a metaphysical spy-thriller, intricate, elegant, and lucid...for sheer intellectual excitement, Hapgood has no rival."--Sunday Times

"Tom Stoppard's most cunning play--a dazzling, double game of physics and espionage--remarkable."--Guardian

About the Author

Tom Stoppard's other work includes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tony Award), Jumpers, Travesties (Tony Award), After Margritte, Enter a Free Man, Hapgood, Indian Ink (a stage adaptation of his own play, In the Native State), and The Invention of Love (Evening Standard Award). His radio plays include If You're Glad I'll Be Frank, Albert's Bridge (Italia Prize), Where are They Now?, Artist Descending a Staircase, The Dog It Was That Died, and
and In the Native State (Sony Award). Work for television includes Professional Foul (Bafta Award, Broadcasting Press Guild Award). His film credits include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead which he also directed (winner of the Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival).

Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber (December 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571197515
• ISBN-13: 978-0571197514
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tom Stoppard is the author of such seminal works as Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Travesties, Every Good Boy Deserves a Favor, Arcadia, Jumpers, The Real Thing, and The Invention of Love.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Collection, September 27, 2001

By 

Mr. Timothy Johnson (DICKSON, ACT Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tom Stoppard: Plays 5 : Arcadia, The Real Thing, Night & Day, Indian Ink, Hapgood (Paperback)

This is a great collection of Tom Stoppard plays, and includes some of his best works.

Arcadia is one of Stoppard's greatest plays - a bizarre combination of physics, mathematics, poetry, a good old-fashioned academic stoush and romance (or lust) to boot. A fantastic play to see, but very good to read also.

The Real Thing, Hapgood and Indian Ink are also among Stoppard's more mature and better plays, and nicely round out this collection. These are some of Stoppard's better known plays (and you can read reviews of them on their own pages) but I'll just summarise by saying that I think they are fantastic.

Night and Day is an earlier Stoppard play and maybe not quite as good - it is concerned with journalism in war-torn Africa and does take a deep look at issues faced by a journalist in that situation. However, in comparison to the other plays in this volume, it just doesn't seem quite as good - however it is still a fine play in its own right and does make for interesting reading nonetheless.

Overall, I definitely reccomend this volume, particularly since it's cheaper than buying each of the plays individually.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Master Playwright, August 29, 2002

By 

K. Alford "WriterBearSF" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tom Stoppard: Plays 5 : Arcadia, The Real Thing, Night & Day, Indian Ink, Hapgood (Paperback)

Every time I pick up this collection, I find myself sitting and reading for hours. Something about Stoppard's command of the language, his own personal calling card, is undeniably riveting.

And though there are times (especially in Day & Night) where it seems that characters are too clever for their own good, his sense of timing and his love for delivering a smart, believable group of people amazes me.

This collection is wonderful in its scope, including everything from the frequently produced "Hapgood" to the more recent treasure "Indian Ink." It's a must-have.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A magnificent collection, December 20, 2000

By 

Angela Marie Teater (Seattle, WA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tom Stoppard: Plays 5 : Arcadia, The Real Thing, Night & Day, Indian Ink, Hapgood (Paperback)

After seeing Stoppard's "The Real Thing" in London, I was blown away. I purchased this collection to have "The Real Thing," and was blown away but all 5 of Stoppard's masterpieces. He writes convincingly of love, redemption and what it means to exist and to live. I cannot recommend this collection (or anything by Stoppard) enough.