A new play by Tom Stoppard will have its world premiere at Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End next year.
Leopoldstadt is Stoppard’s first new play since The Hard Problem, which opened at the National Theatre in 2015 and explored ideas about consciousness.
His latest is set to be a decidedly more personal affair, exploring the fate of one Jewish family in the early 20th century. Stoppard was born in the former Czechoslovakia, where his family were forced to flee to escape the country’s Nazi occupation; all four of his grandparents died in concentration camps.
Leopoldstadt, named after the old Jewish quarter of Vienna, will be set in the year 1900. It will explore the changing fortunes of the Jewish community; granted full civil rights by the country’s emperor Franz Josef, they are yet to discover what the next century will mean.
The play will be directed by Patrick Marber, who worked with Stoppard in 2016 for an acclaimed revival of his 1974 play Travesties.
It will be produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, and is described as “an intimate drama with an epic sweep”. Casting for the show is yet to be announced.
It will open for previews on January 25, 2020, and run for 16 weeks until May 16. A number of tickets will be available for £15; tickets go on sale on June 28 at 10am.
