Directed by Nina Raine, the play spans 21 years in the lives of three generations.
1968: Russian tanks have rolled into Czechoslovakia, and Syd Barrett has been dumped by Pink Floyd. Jan, a visiting postgrad at Cambridge, breaks with his old professor Max, a Marxist philosopher, and heads home to Prague with his suitcase full of “socially negative music”. Rock ’n’ Roll covers the ensuing 21 years in the lives of three generations of Max’s family while Jan is caught in the spiral of dissidence in a Communist police state. But it’s a love story too - and then there’s the music…
Tom Stoppard returns to Hampstead after the triumphant revival of Hapgood (2015). Winner of eight Evening Standard, three Olivier and five Tony Awards, Stoppard’s plays include Leopoldstadt; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Arcadia.
Director Nina Raine also returns to Hampstead where her directing credits include her own play Tiger Country (2011 & 2014) and William Boyd’s Longing (2013).
Nancy Carroll (Olivier and Evening Standard Award Best Actress winner for After The Dance) plays Eleanor, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (The Queen’s Gambit; Midas Man) plays Jan and Nathaniel Parker (The Inspector Lynley Mysteries; Wolf Hall – Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role) plays Max.
Joining them are Hasan Dixon as Ferdinand, Phoebe Horn as Young Esme / Alice, Anna Krippa as Lenka, Georgia Landers as Gillian / Magda, Emily Mytton as Candida, Brenock O’Connor as The Piper and Colin Tierney as Milan.
The production is running from 6 Dec 2023 - 27 Jan 2024 in the Hampstead Theatre. More info via the theatre website.