Synopsis
Tom Stoppard’s stimulating, funny play Night and Day is set in a fictional African country, Kambawe, which is ruled by a leader not unlike Idi Amin. The nation is faced with a Soviet-backed revolution which quickly brings newsmen from around the world to cover the story. Using the characters Ruth; her husband, Geoffrey Carson, a mine owner; an Australian veteran reporter, Dick Wagner; and an idealistic young journalist, Jacob Milne, Stoppard pits the ideal of a Free Press against that of working-class solidarity. During the course of the play, each character is given an opportunity to make his case heard as the revolution unfolds. More traditional in style than most of Stoppard’s oeuvre, Night and Day is a provocative and funny look at exploitation and corruption, journalistic ethics, freedom of the press, and marital infidelity.
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About Tom Stoppard
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Tom Stoppard
1937–2025
Sir Tom Stoppard (born Tomáš Sträussler) was a Czech and English playwright and screenwriter. He wrote for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covered the themes of human rights, censorship, and political freedom, often delving into the deeper philosophical bases of society. Stoppard was a playwright of the National Theatre; one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation; and critically compared with William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw. He was knighted for his contribution to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 and awarded the Order of Merit in 2000.
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