''Rough Crossing'' is a 1984 comedy play by British playwright

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

, freely adapted from

Ferenc Molnár Ferenc Molnár ( , ; born Ferenc Neumann; 12 January 18781 April 1952), often anglicized as Franz Molnar, was a Hungarian-born author, stage-director, dramatist, and poet, widely regarded as Hungary’s most celebrated and controversial play ...

's ''Játék a Kastélyban (Play at the Castle)''. Set on board the SS ''Italian Castle'', it follows world-renowned playwrights Sandor Turai and Alex Gal in their attempts to preserve, with the assistance of the unorthodox cabin steward Dvornichek, the relationship of their composer, Adam Adam, and his love, the leading lady Natasha Navratilova, despite the interference of

lothario Lothario is a male given name that came to suggest an unscrupulous seducer of women, based upon a character in ''The Fair Penitent'', a 1703 tragedy by Nicholas Rowe.

actor Ivor Fish.

History

It was adapted from ''The Play at the Castle'' (Hungarian: ''Játék a Kastélyban'') a play by Hungarian dramatist

. Another English-language adaptation of this play was written in 1926 by

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...

, entitled '' The Play's the Thing''. André Previn wrote three original songs for the play, "This Could Be the One", "Where Do We Go from Here?", and "You Never Heard it from Me".

Synopsis

In the 1930s, successful Hungarian playwrights Sandor Turai and Alex Gal, collaborators for twenty years, arrive aboard the luxury transatlantic liner SS ''Italian Castle'', which is about to sail from Cherbourg to New York, where they are to present their latest musical comedy, ''The Cruise of the Dodo''. They are accompanied by their young French composer, Adam Adam, a former actor who was forced to end his stage career after contracting a strange speech impediment brought on by the return of his terrifying mother from prison. The three intend to surprise their stars, the glamorous Eastern European actress Natasha Navratilova and the intellectually-challenged English actor Ivor Fish, with the newest song from the as yet unfinished play. Unfortunately, they accidentally hear Ivor declaring his love for the younger Natasha, his former lover, who appears to respond. This particularly affects Adam, who, although ten years her junior, is Natasha's current love. The rest of the play sees Turai, Natasha, and Ivor (who is married and terrified of his wife finding out), assisted by the cabin steward and jack-of-all-trades Dvornichek, attempting to convince the suicidal Adam that what he heard was in fact a rehearsal for a new ending written by Ivor. It is actually Turai, staying up all night, who has written this ending, integrating Ivor's and Natasha's words from the previous evening. He does not, however, inform Gal that he has done this, and the second act takes place at a rehearsal for the play, in which the new ending is presented, although it is interrupted by a bad storm and a lifeboat drill which everyone, Dvornichek included, takes to be a real shipwreck. During this, Adam throws himself overboard and is rescued by Dvornichek. Eventually, Adam is convinced that the whole thing was a rehearsal, reconciled with Natasha, who proposes to him, and cured of his speech impediment. The old play, which Turai realises is awful, is abandoned and replaced with a new play inspired by a script written by the (unseen) ship's captain and summarised by Dvornichek. Natasha and Adam are to star, Ivor is relegated to a silent supporting role, and the multi-talented Dvornichek takes over at the piano.

Production history

''Rough Crossing'' opened at the

Lyttelton Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. In ...

in London on 30 October 1984 with the following cast: * Michael Kitchen as Dvornichek *

John Standing Sir John Ronald Leon, 4th Baronet (born 16 August 1934) is an English actor and baronet who is known as John Standing. He is the stepson of John Clements. Early life Standing was born in London, the son of Kay Hammond (née Dorothy Katherin ...

as Turai * Andrew C. Wadsworth as Adam *

Niall Buggy Niall is a male given name of Irish origin. The original meaning of the name is unknown, but popular modern sources have suggested that it means "champion" (derived from the Old Irish word ''niadh''),. According to John Ryan, Professor of Early an ...

as Gal *

Sheila Gish Sheila Gish (born Sheila Anne Syme Gash; 23 April 1942 – 9 March 2005) was an English actress. For her role in the 1995 London revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical '' Company'', she won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance ...

as Natasha *

Robin Bailey William Henry Mettam "Robin" Bailey (5 October 1919 – 14 January 1999) was an English actor. He was born in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. Often cast in upper class and tradition-bound roles such as Mr Justice Graves in Thames Television's '' ...

as Ivor It was directed by Peter Wood and designed by Carl Toms. ''Rough Crossing'' made its New York debut with the

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

Repertory Company in 1997, starring Craig Smith as Turai, Harris Berlinsky as Gal, Tim Deak as Adam, Elise Stone as Natasha, Charles Parnell as Ivor and Christopher Black as Dvornichek.

Critical reception

Alvin Klein of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' gave a 1994 production of the show a favourable review, but noted "there's not all that much dazzle in Mr. Stoppard's razzle; the pizazz is in the production." CurtainUp reviewer Les Gutman calls the play "not terribly interesting", citing in particular a fundamental incompatibility between the source material's comedy and Stoppard's absurdist style. Rough Crossing, a CurtainUp review
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References

{{Tom Stoppard 1985 plays Plays by Tom Stoppard Plays based on other plays