Rock ‘n’ Rhetoric

Syd Barret once said, “I think it's good if a song has more than one meaning. Maybe that kind of song can reach far more people.” And that goes for plays too, like Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, which takes layers of meaning like gospel choir harmonies. In a co-production with Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre, the Canadian Stage Company presented Rock ‘n’ Roll last month, a play that I had been dying to see since it closed in New York just before a visit in the summer of 2008. The play is written by Tom Stoppard, who won an Oscar for his Shakespeare in Love screenplay. Stoppard, like the main character Jan, has lived in both Prague and England. These experiences and his obviously entrenched musical history knowledge make this play as much of a university lesson as it is entertainment.

Audiences should not expect to see a We Will Rock You or a Rock of Ages but should come expecting to be schooled on the spectrum of Communist commitment. It is definitely not a musical in the obvious sense, but it is hard to completely divorce the play from that definition because of how important the soundtrack is to the plot and the characters themselves. A much more cerebral experience than a straight-up rock as resistance reflection, the play takes place over several decades from a spring in Prague 1968 to a Rolling Stones concert in 1989 and has three real distinct yet similar subplots. The first story is of the young Czech scholar who is struggling with his communist ideals in a hard-lined Soviet country while intellectually battling with subplot two, the communist Cambridge professor who is dealing with his changing family. Thirdly, as a sort of historical guide marker, is the story of Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett’s decline, as told through the characters.

Yes, a lot for one play, but it lets you know from the start that the audience must be alert and lucid— unlike some of the characters. Not everyone shared my enthusiasm for the play. The man behind me exclaimed shock and dismay when he found out that no, the intermission was not the end of the play. Although the philosophical and political debates the characters are engaged in are, for the most part, clear and structured, there are moments where I lost track of what they were arguing about.

To its distinct and deserved credit, the dialogue is flowery but deep, intricate yet droll. The show is paced with songs by U2, Bob Dylan, and the centrepiece band for the plot Plastic People of the Universe (whose Canadian member, Paul Wilson, was a consultant on this adaptation of the play). My friend and I couldn’t help but acknowledge each other’s quiet amusement as the playlist skipped from favourite song to favourite song.

Rock ‘n’ Roll is currently playing in Edmonton at the Citadel Theatre until Nov. 29. — Jessica Ford