Out of the Margins

In his most recent, award-winning drama, Tom Stoppard takes us on a highly personal journey which evokes experiences from his own family’s past. In this beautiful special boxed hardback first edition, of which there are only five copies in existence, this being 1 of 5, he takes us deeper into the creation of the play. His annotations reveal an ongoing creative dialogue with the play’s director Patrick Marber: 

“PM: Won’t work. 
TS: Yes, it will. 
It didn’t." 

As well as detailing changes made between the different productions of the play, and revealing references that stimulated ideas within it, Tom Stoppard also shares personal family memories and shows us how they informed many of the characters in the play: 

“I was thinking of my stepfather who once said to me, “Don’t you realise I made you British?” 

About the music at the end of the play, Tom Stoppard says: “Music. In London we finished in silence. We all felt that after the roll call and Auschwitz, music was too ‘arty’ - eg. Adorno ‘Poetry after Auschwitz’ being ‘too barbaric’. Yet the silence wasn’t quite ‘right’. It left the audience without a handrail. So in New York 3 years later Adam wrote in a quiet piano phrase after the last word, which completed the event. But I still miss ‘as though listening’.” 

Winning two Olivier awards when it originally premiered in the West End, Leopoldstadt received the 2023 Tony Award for Best Play. This passionate drama of love and endurance begins in the last days of 1899 and follows one extended family deep into the heart of the 20th century. Full of his customary wit and beauty, Tom Stoppard’s latest work spans fifty years of time over two hours. Producer Sonia Friedman called it Stoppard’s “most personal masterwork". Leopoldstadt earned a total of six Tony Award nominations, including Brandon Uranowitz for Best Featured Actor, Patrick Marber for Best Direction, Richard Hudson for Best Scenic Design, Brigitte Reiffenstuel for Best Costume Design, and Neil Austin for Best Lighting Design. 

From this most esteemed, celebrated and loved playwright, a truly remarkable, almost priceless piece of theatrical legend.