Czech-born/English-raised Tom Stoppard was an award-winning writer/playwright for many reasons. Over his career, Stoppard led a "charmed life" (see also: the excellent BBC documentary of the same name) that brought him opportunity when he least expected it. Still as well-versed and linguistically gifted as he was, Stoppard made a name for himself (and modern English drama) via accurately documenting relationships using the stage as a second reality to chronicle our multiple lines of communication.
Stoppard's 1977 teleplay "Professional Foul" opens with Cambridge ethics Professor Anderson admitting off the cuff that he is really on his way to Communist-occupied Prague for "unethical" reasons. From the safety of a plane and his perch as the don of Cambridge, this statement sounds like a witty aside. We see Anderson is distracted and seemingly unprepared for the conference he is attending at the behest of the Czech government. We also see that Anderson may be more interested in the World Cup-level football match that is taking place in Prague at the same time. At the hotel, Anderson is visited by a former Czech student of his. When the student brings up the business of doing him a "favor," Anderson meets his simple request with a multi-level teleological argument that defines the conflict between why he cannot help but still feels compelled to. This philosophical impasse is fertile ground for Stoppard. As readers/viewers, we must be impressed with a continuous volley of debate points even as the polite characters willingfully acknowledge the impending doom of political actions.
Stoppard also possessed a gift for writing in the details of the relationships between his characters. To maintain a seemingly delicate balance, Stoppard makes them more defined through their reactions to others in opposition to dialogue that could be seen as self-promotion. In "Professional Foul," once the plot jaggedly shifts into motion, you are left with the notion that all forms of communication are made with one purpose in mind only to reach others with a far different interpretation.
There would be no moral dilemmas if moral principles worked in straight lines and never crossed each other.
Coded into much of Stoppard's writing is an innate understanding of the classes. Our lead professor is not really changed from meager accommodations or even the pressing lectures of other conference participants (one of which is designed for both comic relief and mockery.) Anderson is altered when he visits his former student's home and obtains a grasp on the outside forces that took his once-promising pupil and reduced him to a self-explained "cleaner." Elsewhere, in 1966's "Albert's Bridge," hundreds of feet away from our sight, Albert takes the greatest pride in detail he makes with every stroke of his brush as he paints the glorious bridge. Surprisingly, the Sisyphus-like Albert continues to paint "his bridge' with the same devotion even though he knows by the time he finishes the entire structure, it will be time to start it all over again.
We could devote pages and pages to Stoppard's greatest work, 1966's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," a work so revolutionary it started with bad reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival only to land upon the sacred stage at the National Theatre. In tandem with Samuel Beckett's "Waiting For Godot," "Rosencrantz" depends heavily on every aspect from staging, to direction, to the actors chosen for the two titular roles. It is perhaps the most fun one can have in the theatre and still also leave with a feeling of all-consuming melancholia.
Instead, we focus on yet another "play within a play," 1968's underrated "The Real Inspector Hound," a one-act that is determined to break every rule and as the opening direction states "the audience appear to be confronted by their own reflection in a huge mirror." Drawing upon his days as a theatre critic in Bristol, "Inspector Hound" draws together two strands of theatre. First, from the perch in the audience, we have not heard this much critiquing of the positioning of critics since Oscar Wilde. Not only do our two scribes try to outduel each other, they unwillingly expose the tropes and traps of the power of the pen. After, we are given numerous chances to realize that Moon is the understudy of the senior critic, Higgs, he gives/takes his energy in every essence of conversation with the rival Birdboot. Moon develops quickly from flights of fancy ("magicians sawn in half by indefatigably smiling glamour girls") to "mutely triumphant" confession (about Higgs, offhand: "Sometimes I dream that I've killed him") in response to a body discovered in the murder mystery onstage.
Second, but not secondary to the play, a manor-house murder mystery is spilling out with hilarious overacting and stuffed with dialogue that purposefully gives away the mechanics of the plot. The critics are also rivals over the charms of a new actress that they say is going straight to the top. In Stoppard fashion, he builds up their excitement only to show us that her performance is that of the prototypical ingenue. However, this may/may not be the purpose of 'Inspector Hound." What is seen from the stage or from the bickering critics is not to be believed. Yet, when one holds all the details in their hands, it is all made to be believed.
It is not that these early works of the late Stoppard were made for any other purpose but to entertain. However, when inserting his wit and ingenuity into the cycle of developing this writing from his life, Stoppard's works, no matter how far removed from conventional theatre, were forward-looking to a day when even the most unnecessary or ordinary communication between people spoke volumes more about their complicated lives than even they could.
NEW MUSIC THIS WEEK
OLIVIA RODRIGO - Live from Glastonbury [BLUE/PURPLE 2LP/CD](Republic)
LAUFEY - Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town [WHITE 7"](Laufey LLC/The Orchard)
(sings) It's the most wonderful time of the year. Friends, neighbors, country ones, we have ascended to the post-Thanksgiving glide of seasonal surprises. Olivia Rodrigo did not release much during 2025. However, her set at the UK's mega Glastonbury festival was a headline-maker. With just two albums under her belt, Rodrigo's live show is all about total control and (perhaps most importantly) letting her admirers fan out. From that massive surge of energy, Rodrigo brings a "do what you want to" spirit to the new generation of Pop. When Rodrigo does what she wants, it was to bring out the legendary Robert Smith of The Cure for a couple of Cure classics.
Laufey could single-handedly bring back our appreciation of the classic Jazz singer/interpreter. Listen to Billie Eilish closely, and you hear her admiration of Julie London and the mellow but powerful singers of the post-Your Hit Parade age. Laufey proves on her 2025 album that she can do Pop - on her terms. Her Christmas single (now a tradition) is four years old and showing no signs of letting up. As a new traditionalist, Laufey knows her fans as well as Rodrigo knows hers and gives them a glimpse of the past through a new light.
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS - Live God [2LP/CD](Nick Cave/PIAS)
DEPECHE MODE - Memento Mori: Mexico City [2CD/4LP](Columbia)
Somewhere on one of your streaming services there is a documentary about the Australian group The Birthday Party. If you take home one thing from watching these art-damaged nearly-insane boozehounds wreck their way from Down Under to the UK, it is that without that reckless sense of abandon - Nick Cave would not be here. There have been many live albums from Cave. However, "Live God" shows how gracefully he is dovetailing into being older. Cave speaks elegantly and empathetically now. With The Bad Seeds backing him, there is a revival-style ethos here where all are welcome and all are willing to sing along. One could say this is a veritable greatest-hits set from Cave and company. However, as exciting as it is to hear him bark "From Her To Eternity" and the stomping Gothic "Red Right Hand" out of the darkness. It is perfectly balanced with the inner peace he warms to on "Frogs" and "Joy."
Depeche Mode's "Memento Mori" was a surprisingly moving album and most of it plays very well with the post-"Violator" years of greatness that were missing from the still fantastic "101" from years ago. Down to Gahan and Gore, 2023 Depeche Mode (and their band) know how to work a stadium into a frenzy. Their Goth Pop dominance is even more drawn out here with the inclusion of four extras that did not make their critically-acclaimed 2023 album including "In The End" - a co-write with Richard Butler of Psychedelic Furs.
KHRUANGBIN - The Universe Smiles Upon You ii [WHITE LP/CD](Dead Oceans/Secretly/AMPED)
Over a chilly winter week in Texas, Khruangbin re-claim a "Taylor's Version" styled re-recording of their early work. Ten years later, the trio knows exactly how to play to any audience and keep the grooves bubbling up through the show. "Universe" is not as song-oriented as their newer material, but the dreaminess of their nascent writing is a welcome return.
PARIS 1942 [LP/CD](Superior Viaduct)
TUXEDOMOON - Desire (45th Anniversary) [2LP/CD](Crammed Discs)
One of the defining facets of Post-Punk is how it embraces the proverbial darkness. The Cure circa "Seventeen Seconds/Faith/Pornography" makes a fine example of descending the spiral into musical madness. Joy Division's lonely pair of classic albums from the same period live on as angst/ridicule/anger growing into isolation and a chilling resignation. 1981-1982 for Post-Punk was fertile ground. Under the slipstream of the larger acts, UK quartet Tuxedomoon translated Art-Rock instrumentation and sheen (the cabaret-style violins) into a gloomy layered attack of rigid unhappiness. "East/Jinx/.../Music #1" lives on its a sinuous drum machine-led mystery, while "Incubus (Blue Suit)" is SynthPop turned upside down thanks to experimental skronky guitar stabs.
The union of Sun City Girls and former Velvet Underground drummer Mo Tucker in 1982 brought forth a very Downtown 81-styled recording that joined chiming/dueling guitars (the amazing Television-like title track) with dramatic bouts with noise from the Bishop brothers that often culminate in very muscular jangly choruses ("Radar") before diving headfirst back into the skronk that dominated the age and region.
Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
