The Real Thing

By Tom Stoppard

The Real Thing is one of Tom Stoppard’s most enduring and highly acclaimed dramatic works, first performed in 1982 at The Strand Theatre in London, starring Felicity Kendal and Roger Rees. The Real Thing begins with Max and Charlotte, a couple whose marriage is on the verge of collapse. Charlotte is an actress who has been appearing in a play about marriage written by her husband, Henry. Max, her leading man, is also married to an actress, Annie. Both marriages are at the point of rupture because Henry and Annie have fallen in love. But is it the real thing? Tom Stoppard combines his characteristically brilliant wordplay and wit with flashes of insight that illuminate the nature—and the mystery—of love, creating a multi-toned play that challenges the mind while searching out the innermost secrets of the heart. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, The Real Thing is brilliant and heartfelt, an extraordinary theatrical exploration of marriage, fidelity, and the creative life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Release date: Nov 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9780802188878

Book preview

Praise for The Real Thing

"In The Real Thing … [Stoppard] turns his attention to private passion—and he does so without mortgaging an intellect that has few equals in the contemporary theater."

—New York Times

"Tom Stoppard is justly renowned for his erudition and wit, but in his 1980s drama The Real Thing he also found a (philandering) heartbeat."

—Entertainment Weekly

"Fidelity, love, fiction, passion, authenticity—these are just a few of the juicy issues running around Tom Stoppard’s masterful 1982 marital drama … The Real Thing is exceedingly well made, a keen and touching study of fidelity, fiction and marital love … Stoppard’s brainy love story melts our hearts."

—Time Out New York

A play that is at once tightly structured and expansive.

—San Francisco Chronicle

This play[’s] … intellectual pyrotechnics are matched by its heart.

—Hollywood Reporter

[An] entertaining and engaging award-winning play.

—BroadwayWorld.com

"[The Real Thing] is about both love and art, and it is wise, witty, and astonishing through and through … Enthralling."

—Financial Times (UK)

When it comes to putting erotic love in its place, no contemporary English playwright has done so with such illuminating rigour or eloquence as Tom Stoppard.

—Evening Standard (UK)

A heart-wrenching play … [and] poignant postmodern comedy.

—Guardian (UK)

THE REAL THING

Also by Tom Stoppard

PLAYS

The Hard Problem

Enter a Free Man

The Real Inspector Hound

After Magritte

Jumpers

Travesties

Dirty Linen and New-Found-Land

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour

Night and Day

Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth

Undiscovered Country

(adapted from Arthur Schnitzler’s Das weite Land)

On the Razzle

(adapted from Johann Nestroy’s Einen Jux will er sich machen)

Arcadia

Rough Crossing

(adapted from Ferenc Molnár’s Play at the Castle)

Dalliance

(adapted from Arthur Schnitzler’s Liebelei)

Hapgood

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

Indian Ink

(an adaptation of In the Native State)

The Invention of Love

Voyage: The Coast of Utopia Part I

Shipwreck: The Coast of Utopia Part II

Salvage: The Coast of Utopia Part III

Rock ‘n’ Roll

The Coast of Utopia: A Trilogy

TELEVISION SCRIPTS

A Separate Peace

Teeth

Another Moon Called Earth

Neutral Ground

Professional Foul

Squaring the Circle

Parade’s End

FICTION

Lord Malquist & Mr. Moon

TOM STOPPARD

THE REAL THING

Grove Press

New York

Copyright © 1982, 1983, 1984 by Tom Stoppard

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Scanning, uploading, and electronic distribution of this book or the facilitation of such without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. Any member of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or anthology, should send inquiries to Grove Atlantic, 154 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10011 or [e-mail].

CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that The Real Thing is subject to a royalty. It is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and all British Commonwealth countries, and all countries covered by the International Copyright Union, the Pan-American Copyright Convention, and the Universal Copyright Convention. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or sound taping, all other forms of mechanical or electronic reproduction, such as information storage and retrieval systems and photocopying, and rights of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved.

First-class professional, stock, and amateur applications for permission to perform it, and those other rights stated above, must be made in advance to Samuel French, Inc., 235 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003, and for professional rights, to United Agents LLP, 12–26 Lexington Street, London, W1F 0LE.

Printed in the United States of America

Originally published in 1982 by Faber and Faber Ltd., Great Britain First published in 1984 in the United States by Faber and Faber, Inc.

First Grove Press paperback edition: October 2017

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available for this title.

ISBN 978-0-8021-2744-0

eISBN 978-0-8021-8887-8

Grove Press

an imprint of Grove Atlantic

154 West 14th Street

New York, NY 10011

Distributed by Publishers Group West

groveatlantic.com

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For Miriam

Contents

PRODUCTION CREDITS

CHARACTERS

ACT ONE

ACT TWO

PRODUCTION CREDITS

The Real Thing was originally produced in London on 16 November 1982 at the Strand Theatre, directed by Peter Wood.

The cast was as follows:

The play was subsequently produced in 1983 at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, South Africa, directed by Nikolas Simmonds for Pieter Toerien Productions, in association with Michael Codron, starring Tim Plewman, Gillian Garlick, Richard Haines, Fiona Ramsay, André Jacobs, Ashleigh Sendin, and Ian Roberts.

This production was also staged at the André Huguenet Theatre on 5 August 1983.

The Real Thing opened in New York on 5 January 1984 at the Plymouth Theatre.

The cast was as follows:

Produced by Emanuel Azenberg

Directed by Mike Nichols

Designed by Tony Walton

Lighting by Tharon Musser

A revival of The Real Thing, produced at the Donmar Warehouse, opened in London on 27 May 1999 and moved to the Albery Theatre on 13 January 2000. The Donmar Warehouse revival of The Real Thing opened in New York on 17 April 2000 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre with the following cast:

Produced by Anita Waxman, Elizabeth Williams, Ron Kastner, and Miramax Films

Associate producers: ACT Productions and Randall Wreghitt

Directed by David Leveaux

Scenic design and costumes by Vicki Mortimer

Lighting by Mark Henderson and David Weiner

Sound by John Leonard

CHARACTERS

(in order of appearance)

Max, 40-ish

Charlotte, 35-ish

Henry, 40-ish

Annie, 30-ish

Billy, 22-ish

Debbie, 17

Brodie, 25

ACT ONE

SCENE I

MAX and CHARLOTTE.

Max doesn’t have to be physically impressive,

Reviews for The Real Thing

[devil_llama · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While this does bear the hallmarks of a Tom Stoppard play, it is not up to his usual standard. There is very little hilarity in the jokes, and the dialogue is rather uninspired. The short pieces of a play within a play were written to be deliberately bad, and he did achieve that to some rather hilarious results. The problem is that the plot feels contrived, and the characters are not sympathetic, nor are the unlikable in a particularly interesting way. They are flat. The premise of adultery wrapped up in more adultery, and the inability to maintain a constant, faithful relationship with one person is banal by virtue of being overdone. Overall, a work not worthy of a genius, and one wonders why it won prizes.

[leslie398 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This play about love (when is it the "real thing"?) & jealousy doesn't age as well as some of Stoppard's other plays. That said, it is still a fun play to read & I would love to see it performed. The Stoppard touch is evident with certain scenes & pieces of dialogue repeating throughout the play, with differing emphasis or characters. The strength of the play (in my humble opinion) is in the exploration of how couples react to the infidelity (real and imagined).

[blackbelt2librarian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow - what a great play. I was fortunate enough to see this on Broadway a few years back with the incomparable Jennifer Ehle.

[hagelstein_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Two couples negotiate marriage, creativity, love and infidelity in 1980s London. A beautifully clever scene involves a cricket bat vs. a plank of wood as a comparison of good writing vs. bad.

[Andrew Sellon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A modern masterpiece about love, and figuring out when it's "the real thing." Brilliant and heartfelt.

[smichaelwilson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wasn't a huge fan of this play, but that's probably due to my lack of interest in romantic themes in literature. The Life Imitates Art angle had potential, but didn't engage me enough to make a difference, and there was never a point that I really felt invested in any of the characters. Not a bad play, but not really for me.