About
Tom Stoppard, born Tomáš Straussler in Zlín, Czechoslovakia, fled the Nazis with his family and settled in England in 1946. After working as a journalist, he made his mark in theatre with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966), which won a Tony Award. He followed with major plays such as Jumpers, Travesties, The Real Thing, Arcadia, and Leopoldstadt. An Oscar-winning screenwriter for Shakespeare in Love, he received numerous honors, including the Praemium Imperiale and the PEN/Pinter Prize. He died in 2025.
* 1937-07-03 — † 2025-11-28
Major works
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966)play
- Jumpers (1972)play
- Travesties (1974)play
- The Real Thing (1982)play
- Arcadia (1993)play
Key milestones
- 1966Premiere of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Edinburgh Festival.
- 1998Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Shakespeare in Love.
- 2021Awarded the Praemium Imperiale for Theatre/Film.
Themes
Identity and memoryPhilosophy and scienceArt and politicsChance and fateExile and belonging
Sources: praemiumimperiale.org · britannica.com · officiallondontheatre.com