Rock 'N' Roll is here to play

By BAZ BAMIGBOYE

Last updated at 09:46 09 November 2007


It's detention for Tom Stoppard. The world-renowned playwright admitted to me he was so busy getting his awardwinning play Rock 'N' Roll ready for its Broadway run that he fell behind with his "homework": adapting Chekhov's Ivanov for Michael Grandage's West End Donmar season next year.

The production, which is to star Kenneth Branagh at Wyndham's Theatre, doesn't open until September, but the dramatist had, nonetheless, promised Grandage the new version of Ivanov last month.

"I thought I'd be able to work on Rock 'N' Roll during the day and Ivanov at night, but in reality I was working long days on my play and was too exhausted to put pen to paper on Ivanov.

"I had to e-mail Grandage and tell him the dog ate my homework," Stoppard told me.

"I'll get right on it now, though; otherwise I'll be in real trouble."

Stoppard and Rock 'N' Roll director Trevor Nunn managed to trim 17 minutes running time from the production that first appeared at London's Royal Court and then at the Duke of York's Theatre.

It was beautifully done when I caught the opening night at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York. The play seemed even more heartfelt, and the performances by Brian Cox, Sinead Cusack, Rufus Sewell and Alice Eve were deeper and more powerful.

Ms Cusack told me the producers had more money to spend on things like really good wigs - useful in a heartbreaking scene where the actress has to reveal hair loss caused by her character's treatment for cancer.

Producer Sonia Friedman had to help raise the $2.4 million needed to put on the show. "We've got 20 weeks to make the money back and it's costing $400,000 a week to run," she told me.

The play received some fantastic notices, so I don't think she should worry unduly.

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