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Timothy Edward Kane (Jan) and Mary Beth Fisher (Esme (older)) in Rock 'n' Roll at the Goodman. Photo by Michael Brosilow.
Chicagoist: Did you like the play?
Man on El: Confusing.
Chicagoist: Yeah.
Man on El: I’ve been to Prague and studied those theories.
Chicagoist: Still confusing?
Man on El: Yeah.
The play tells the story of a philosophy student and his Communist Cambridge professor between 1968 and 1990. The student, Jan (pronounced Y-on), decides to leave Cambridge for his home of Czechoslovakia to pursue rock music and political ideology, but he finds that there is no physical or metaphorical space for his record collection to exist within the Communist regime. (There’s also a love story with the hippie daughter of his professor.) A majority of the first act is excruciatingly long scenes in which Jan and his friend Ferdinand discuss revolting against Communist ideas, and even though both actors, Timothy Edward Kane and Kareem Bandealy respectively, are wonderful, the scenes start to blur together. By the time Act One is ending, you really have no idea who needs to sign what petition/agreement to make what happen.
However, the Goodman does do its best to put on top-notch theater, and we did enjoy the show. The set screams Eastern European rock concert, in a good way, and the lighting and music add great artistic touches. Rock music, from the Beach Boys to U2, provides transitions between scenes complementing the story nicely. However, the problem seems to lie with Stoppard's original script, and sometimes these musical spurts unfortunately serve to wake up the snorers in the audience instead. We wish we were permitted a flashlight to refer to the program’s glossary during the performance, or just to shine in people’s eyes when we got bored.
Performances run through June 7. Tickets range from $30 - $75 and can be purchased online or by calling (312) 443-3800.
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it is tough when Stoppard packs his plays with history lessons, but even tougher to fathom is that our teachers didn't impart enough knowledge for us to be able easily comprehend such lessons (not an affront to reviewer, as I too needed a brief scan of the program before the show, during intermission and after), but boy was it fun!
Rock 'n Roll is brilliant and a must see!!!
a quick note to readers, Jan leaves Cambridge for Prague, which is the capital of then Czechoslovakia.
Thanks for the note. I edited it.
I was obviously a little confused as well.
Stoppard’s genius? I had to take a moment to comment because I don’t feel this review adequately warns potential theatre goers of the disaster they face in this piece. In fairness, I did not see Steppenwolf’s production, however, I saw this in San Fran last summer and can honestly say it ranks in the bottom 5 of all theatre pieces I’ve seen (including college and community). If you can stay awake through the first half you’re likely tugging on 5 Hour Energy drinks too hard. This play does not step to any theoretical or philosophical plane that it attempts and is devoid of even a modicum of emotive character building. It’s like watching Flight of the Concords, but without the funny… sorely dry Czechs collect records, hang out in their apartment and complain about the government.
Maybe they're just hitting their stride, but I saw this last night and it was amazing. Give me more plays with too many ideas that ponder music, love and absurdity.
It was genius.