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Love & letters
The Huntington hunts for The Real Thing
BY SALLY CRAGIN

Playwright Tom Stoppard is best known as a master humorist and dazzling theater technician. But his complex comedy of love and marriage among show folk, The Real Thing, is notable for its emotional range and depth. Starting next Friday, the Huntington Theatre Company presents a revival helmed by Evan Yionoulis, who directed its 36 Views.

Playwright Henry and his actress wife, Annie, get together through adultery and are later threatened by same. Or are they just rehearsing? Then there’s Brodie, a Scottish political activist and aspiring playwright — is he the real thing? For Stoppard, this 1982 play became a watershed work that prompted questions about how art and politics commingle in society as well as about the nature of enduring love.

Yionoulis comments, " The play is thematically about authenticity, love, politics, and art in relationships. It explores the question of ‘What is the real thing?’ Is the real thing finite or fixed? Or something that’s ever changing that needs to be scrutinized? " Rufus Collins, who plays Henry, notes, " The core of this play is how this man and woman negotiate their love at such a cost. "

The play is regarded as Stoppard’s most autobiographical work. " It’s where he showed his stripes as an emotional writer, " says Yionoulis. " He was also criticized for his rightist politics, and he’s exploring the question ‘What is it to have a political cause?’ " At the time he wrote it, Stoppard made no secret of his political beliefs; in 1984, he told the New York Times that political questions " resolve themselves into moral questions, " adding that " it’s a simple idea of how human beings should behave toward each other — a simple, intuitive sense of what constitutes good behavior. "

Collins observes, " If you’re playing a writer, especially one who’s successful, you can’t help but feel the playwright is close. You feel this is an extremely personal play. " Yionoulis too was struck by the emotional revelations in the script. " Making the central character a playwright, he puts himself right there. "

The Huntington’s inaugural production (in 1982) was Stoppard’s Night and Day, and in the intervening 23 years the troupe has produced some half-dozen Stoppard pieces. Yet the Czech-born British playwright has not been a marquee name on Huntington Avenue during the reign of artistic director Nicholas Martin. According to associate artistic director Christopher Wigle, however, " This play has been on our list for a number of years. " He adds that Yionoulis’s skill with actors and sensitivity to text and visual aspects when directing 36 Views was " so sophisticated " that the pairing seemed a natural. " We’re finally getting back to an extraordinary playwright. And a play I think Nicky found uniquely compelling. "

The Real Thing | Huntington Theatre Company at the Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston | September 9–October 9 | $15-$70 | 617.266.0800 or http://www.huntingtontheatre.org/


Issue Date: September 2 - 8, 2005
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