Leopoldstadt

 Leopoldstadt
Longacre Theatre
December 30, 2022 

Photo courtesy of Leopoldstadt

Tom Stoppard has outdone himself with Leopoldstadt.  The play runs two hours and ten minutes without intermission, and flies by.  The characters are rich and clear, full of vigor and continually standing up for themselves.  They are flawed and real, striving to find their place in the world, while struggling to find their place within their own family.

Photo courtesy of Leopoldstadt

It is 1899.  We meet a very well-off Jewish family living in Vienna.  The children are decorating a Christmas tree.  The adults find it amusing when one of the young boys puts the Star of David on top of the tree.  This is a progressive family, who openly discuss politics, the unjust ways of the world, their Jewish heritage, and the choices some of them made with interfaith marriage.  A few of the women are looking through a photo album.  One of them comments that when a family member dies without a photo, their face is lost forever.  This family looks forward to the turn of the 20^th century with optimism, even thought they are well aware of the obstacles and antisemitism they face.

Photo courtesy of Leopoldstadt

The story continues to follow the children and grandchildren of this family through 1924, 1938, and 1955.  Their personal conflicts continue as the political environment in Austria drastically changes, yet their identity remain strong, as they can see in the photo album they carry with them through the decades.

This play has a cast of over twenty phenomenal actors.  Director Patrick Marber keeps the focus sharp through the span of fifty-six years of action, which includes changes of actors as their characters age.  Tom Stoppard’s writing is dense and complex, full of both political commentary and the personal yearnings of the characters.  Mr. Marber and this skilled cast find the through lines of emotion that keep the audience engaged, connected, and on the edge of their seats.  

As in most of Mr. Stoppard’s work, he uses math as a metaphor for the action.  In this piece, it is the cat’s cradle.  The mathematician character ties three knots in string, then shows the children how to play.  He points out the change in location of the knots every time the string changes shape.  These coordinates seem random when looked at independently, yet, as one of the children points out, they are very much determined by the previous position and movement of the string.  This represents the migration of the Jewish people over centuries, never having a land of their own, being forced to move by varied political and social upheaval. 

Photo courtesy of Leopoldstadt

During a political discussions in the 1924 scene, one of the characters asks, “Do you really think it will happen again?”  She is referring to the hatred that keeps the Jewish people persecuted and transitory.  The characters have no idea what is ahead for them.  When we get to the final scene, where three family members are reunited in 1955, they read off the names on their family tree.  They solemnly state the names of their family members who were killed in Auschwitz.  Tom Stoppard gives us pause to identify the hatred that was strongly present int the 20^th Century and recognize it is still alive in the 21^st.  This profound moment pulls the meaning of this fifty-six year story together.  It is a visceral moment of awareness and a bold statement on the continuous legacy of hatred throughout history.

Leopoldstadt is playing at the Longacre Theatre.  You must see this play!

Domenick Danza