Rock ‘n’ Roll at Hampstead Theatre

Tom Stoppard returns to Hampstead Theatre with a revival of his 2006 play Rock ‘n’ Roll, a gripping piece about communism and dissidence in Czechoslovakia between the Prague Spring in 1968 and the Velvet Revolution in 1989.

It’s 1968 and Russian tanks have rolled into Czechoslovakia to suppress a series of political reforms that would threaten the communist ideals of the Eastern Bloc. Jan, a Czechoslovakian postgrad studying at Cambridge University under Marxist professor Max, and a huge fan of rock ‘n’ roll music, rushes back to his home country.

The story takes place over several decades and contrasts Max and his family’s life in Cambridge as he stubbornly clings to his Soviet politics with Jan’s life in Czechoslovakia as he tries to live with the oppressive regime but is ultimately marked a dissident. It’s a thoroughly interesting play that explores life under communist control.

To say the show is about rock ‘n’ roll music would probably be misleading. To say it’s about music’s important role in toppling political systems would be overreaching. But rock ‘n’ roll music features heavily: it is used throughout to punctuate scenes and to provide symbolism around political dissidence.

Acting heavyweights fill the stage in Nathaniel Parker (as Max), Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (Jan) and Nancy Carroll (Eleanor and Esme) and are a joy to watch throughout. They bring a kind of potency to the show that it might lack without such a strong cast.

The staging is lovely in the beautiful Hampstead Theatre. Done in-the-round with the theatre’s highly adaptable space, the audience surrounds the stage helping the show feel more raw and intimate. The props and lighting are all simple, yet effective, allowing the actors and the music to hold focus.

But as good as a lot of the individual elements are, it just feels like there could be more. It feels like this could, and should, be a really powerful show. But it just sits in the middle ground, not allowing its highs to be high enough or its lows to be low enough. It’s compelling but it’s not thought-provoking. It’s good but it’s not commanding. It’s emotional but it’s not impassioned.

Rock ‘n’ Roll is a fascinating look at the period and might make a gripping story for those curious about life in the Eastern Bloc and Soviet politics. Most will enjoy it in the moment but it’s unlikely to keep anyone thinking about it for years to come.

Jim Compton-Hall

Rock ‘n’ Roll is at Hampstead Theatre from 6^th December until 27^th January 2024. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.