Brittany Allen at LitHub:
As Michael Billington put it in a remembrance for The Guardian, Stoppard’s unique genius was in taking “seemingly esoteric subjects—from chaos theory to moral philosophy and the mystery of consciousness—and turn[ing] them into witty, inventive and often moving dramas.” He did this with all those feted projects—The Coast of Utopia, The Real Thing, Travesties, Leopoldstadt, and the aforementioned Rosencrantz. (Arcadia was robbed.)
Stoppard was an idea-driven writer and a heavy researcher, as wont to tango with the Velvet Revolution as the plight of Russian dissidents. Yet unlike predecessor/peers Harold Pinter or Mike Leigh, he resisted openly political work. Pyrotechnic argument was his mode, and philosophy was his way in. (Thus the appeal to sophomores.)
In fact, his most personal play, Leopoldstadt—which drew on his own family history during World War II—did not see daylight until 2007.
more here.
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