Double ACT (Biography and Autobiography)

Tom Stoppard is one of the foremost writers of his generation; a giant of the English stage whose intellectual puzzles are box-office magic and whose personality is as notoriously intriguing as his works. Ira Nadel recounts this eventful life, from Stoppard's childhood - escaping the Nazi occupation of the Czech Republic to settle in Britain - to his breakthrough as a writer, his first theatrical success as the youngest playwright ever at the National Theatre, and his subsequent rise to the West End and international eminence. This portrait explores Stoppard's past and present friendships and partnerships - with Kenneth Tynan, Peter O'Toole, Trevor Nunn and Felicity Kendal among many others - and also the human rights work of his more recent years. It shows how Stoppard's life imitates his art and vice versa: the multiple identities of the plays reflecting his multi-layered past, and teh apparent contradictions of his life giving rise to dramatic works that elegantly and insistently exploe the shifting nature of reality.