Page to Stage: Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt
DRA1-5a-Tue3
Steve Bloom
This course will take place in person at 60 Turner Street. The room will be equipped with a HEPA air purifier.
September 10 - October 8
How do we experience a play differently when we see it performed on stage as opposed to reading it on the page? How does reading it first enhance the experience of seeing it? To explore the differences and benefits, we will read and discuss Leopoldstadt by Tom Stoppard. Then, we will see the Huntington Theatre production of that play and discuss how this production meets, surpasses, or falls short of expectations based on reading the play.
Stoppard is a major contemporary British playwright whose works include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Travesties, Arcadia, and The Real Thing, among many others. He is known for writing deep and provocative philosophical dramas with an absurdist bent. His most recent play, Leopoldstadt, is considered his most personal work in which he depicts an extended Jewish family’s experience of assimilation and anti-semitism across several generations in the twentieth century. The Huntington Theatre calls Leopoldstadt an “epic story of love, family, and enduring bravery.”
More facilitated discussion lecture.
Leopoldstadt. All study group members will see a local production of the play. Supplementary readings will be posted on the course website
30 minutes to 2 hours per week.
Steve Bloom is Professor Emeritus, English, at Lasell University in Newton, where he was Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs when he retired in June 2020. Steve earned his PhD (and MA) in English and American Literature from Brandeis and his BA in English from the University of Rochester. Steve has published two books and many articles and reviews on Eugene O’Neill, spoken frequently at Boston-area theatres and other forums on O’Neill and other modern dramatists. Throughout his academic career, he has taught senior adult learners as well as traditional college-age students. Steve has been a BOLLI study group leader since Fall 2021.