HERMIONE LEE - TOM STOPPARD: A LIFE (OMNIBUS) (320kbs-m4a/154mb/67mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 19th September 2021
Tom Stoppard's childhood is disrupted when his family escape Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.
Hermione Lee's evocative and immersive biography tells the story of the man and his work. Since 1964 Stoppard has been writing for the theatre, big screen, television, and radio,. His plays are among the most studied of the last century.
Abridged in five parts by Katrin Williams
Hermione Lee is one of our leading literary biographers, and with access to private papers, diaries and letters, interviews with the playwright's friends, and Stoppard himself she has created an intimate portrait of the writer. Here we learn of his formative years as a young child forced to flee Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia; growing up in India and then England; his activism and campaigning on behalf of Eastern European and Soviet prisoners of conscience; the influence of, and his friendship with Vaclav Havel, and always his work, the writing, rehearsing, casting and his ever present humour.
Tom remains at the forefront of British theatrical life, even in a moment of crisis. His most recent, personal and highly acclaimed play, Leopoldstadt, fell victim to Covid-19, when its run in the West End was suspended in March, 2020, before resuming in August, 2021.
Read by Alex Jennings
Producer: Elizabeth Allard
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2020.
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