The Invention of Love

Infobox Play
name = The Invention of Love


image_size =
caption = Cover of the Grove Press edition
writer = Tom Stoppard
chorus =
characters = A.E. Housman, Charon, Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde
mute =
setting = The river Styx
date of premiere = October 1, 1997
country of Origin = flagicon|UK UK
original language = English
series =
subject = A.E. Housman
genre = Drama

"The Invention of Love" is a play by Tom Stoppard portraying the life of poet A.E. Housman, focusing specifically on his personal life and love for a college classmate. The play is written from the viewpoint of Housman dealing with his memories after dying and contains many classical allusions. Considered by many to be Stoppard's finest play, it has been called "esoteric". [http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9506EFDE153CF937A25751C1A961958260] In fact, to demystify the play's many historical and academic references, the New York production team provided the audiences with a 30-page booklet on the political and artistic history of the late-Victorian period. [ [http://www.aislesay.com/NY-INVENTION.html Aisle Say (Ny): The Invention Of Love ] ]

ynopsis

The play begins with A.E. Housman, dead at age 77, standing on the bank of the river Styx. Upon boarding his boat for the afterlife – captained by a petulant Charon – Housman begins to remember moments from his life, starting with his matriculation to Oxford University, where he studied Classics. The play unfolds as a collection of short scenes that trace, primarily, Housman's relationship with Moses Jackson, the man for whom Housman harboured a lifelong, unrequited love. The scenes also explore the late-Victorian artistic ideals as well as Housman's intellectual growth into a preeminent Latin textual scholar. Throughout the play, the older Housman comments on and occasionally talks to the characters on stage, including his younger self.

Production history

The play premièred at the Cottesloe Theatre in the Royal National Theatre, London, on 1 October 1997 and transferred to the Haymarket Theatre in 1998. The old Housman was played by John Wood and the young Housman by Paul Rhys. The director was Richard Eyre.

The play's Broadway run was at the Lyceum Theatre. It opened on March 29, 2001, starring Richard Easton as the older Housman and Robert Sean Leonard as the young Housman. Both actors won Tony Awards for their performances, Easton winning Best Actor in a Play, Leonard winning Best Featured Actor in a Play.

References

External links

* [http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/stoppt/invent.htm A review archive]