Marxism + Pink Floyd = Really good play

Hey, did you know that there are plays to see in Philadelphia?  And music and dance and stuff?  In the first installment of this possibly occasional series, join us as Under the Button attempts to explore Philadelphia life outside the bubble.

You've probably heard of Tom Stoppard because he's the author of many confusing plays, among them Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and The Coast of Utopia, plus Shakespeare in Love, which is not a play but a very good movie.  After premiering in London and then New York, Stoppard's most recent play, Rock 'n' Roll, has come to town for its Philadelphia debut.  And we really cannot emphasize enough how good and worth seeing it is.

The play fits in with Stoppard's oeuvre in that it is confusing.  But Rock 'n' Roll is not about minor characters in Shakespeare or czarist Russia--it's about music and counterculture and communism and academia, and even if you don't know much about any of those things, you will like it for its sharp dialogue, good tunes, and general quality of making you feel cultured and smart.  By way of summary, we will tell you that the play begins with Jan, a Czech-born student studying for his Ph.D. at Cambridge under one of England's last staunch Marxists.  (And just to add another reason that this play is worth your time, you should know that it it was overseen by Wilma Theater artistic directors Blanka and Jiri Zizka, who themselves came to America after the Prague Spring.)  Jan decides to go back to Czechoslovakia after the 1968 revolution and Max the Marxist stays in England with his hippie daughter and sick wife.  The play becomes a debate about the failings of communism and the triumph of rock music, all set to a soundtrack of the Rolling Stones, the Doors, Bob Dylan, and many others.

Rock 'n' Roll is playing at the Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., until October 26.  Student tickets are available for a reduced price.