The Oscar-winning writer, who has died at the age of 88, was hailed as one of Britain’s best stage writers for a string of witty, cerebral works including Arcadia, Leopoldstadt, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.
When Hampstead Theatre lost its Arts Council funding in 2022, Stoppard generously offered them a revival of his play Rock & Roll which became their bestselling production ever.
It was followed by last year’s hugely successful The Invention of Love and now Indian Ink, which opens tomorrow (December 3) starrinig Stoppard’s former partner Felicity Kendal.
Posting on Facebook and Instagram Hampstead Theatre said: “Everyone at Hampstead Theatre is devastated by the news of Tom Stoppard’s passing.
“Tom has been an unwavering friend of our theatre in difficult times, and as we prepare to open our third consecutive Christmas season of a Stoppard play we all feel a personal loss. It has been a great privilege to work with him and we owe him so much. Our thoughts are with Sabrina and his family.”
Stoppard was born Tomáš Sträussler in Czechoslovakia in 1937 and left as a child Jewish refugee.
He and his family fled first to Singapore, where his father was killed by the Japanese, then to Darjeeling, India where he attended boarding school.
When his mother Martha married British army major Kenneth Stoppard in 1945, he adopted her two sons and the family moved to England. Stoppard started out as a journalist before turning to playwrighting, scoring his first stage hit in 1966 with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead .
He went on to write for stage and screen including winning an Oscar for co-writing Shakespeare in Love, working as a script doctor for Spielberg – notably on Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade – and penning Terry Gilliam’s fantasy masterpiece Brazil .
Indian Ink follows twin storylines from 1930s colonial India and 1980s England as English poet Flora Crewe develops a mysterious connection with an Indian painter.
Fifty later, her sister Eleanor is visited by a biographer and the painter’s son to uncover the story behind Flora’s time in India and a portrait he painted of her.
Stoppard wrote the play for Kendal, after leaving his wife Dr Miriam Stoppard for her in 1992 and the pair had an on off relationship for several years.
Kendal, who grew up in India, played Flora Crewe in the original production in 1995 and now plays Mrs Swan in Hampstead Theatre’s revival.
She was married to former Hampstead Theatre artistic director Michael Rudman until his death in 2023 and has described Stoppard’s death as “the closing of a chapter that has shaped my life in many ways.”
Tributes have poured in for Sir Tom including The National Theatre which staged most of his plays.
They said: “Tom’s influence on British theatre has been simply immense.
“Tom Stoppard was one of Britain’s most celebrated playwrights, renowned for his sharp intellect, inventive narrative structures, and a blend of highbrow humour with profound philosophical enquiries.”
Indian Ink runs at Hampstead Theatre from December 3 until January 31. www.hampsteadtheatre.com
