Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard dies at 88

"Stoppard wrote erudite plays that touched on a broad range of topics from his 1966 absurdist comedy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead about two minor characters from Hamlet to his 1993 drama Arcadia which included dialogue about Chaos Theory and Garden Landscaping. But when Arcadia opened in New York, Stoppard told me his plays were always about people, not abstract ideas."

"But when Arcadia opened in New York, Stoppard told me his plays were always about people, not abstract ideas. "I'm not some kind of intellectual who's importing very special ideas into the unfamiliar terrain of the theater. I don't see it like that at all," he said. "There's something about the way the plays are written about which makes people think that they're somewhat exclusive. And an exclusive playwright is a contradiction in terms.""

Tom Stoppard was a celebrated English-language playwright and screenwriter whose career spanned more than half a century. He died at age 88. He won a Laurence Olivier Award, five Tony Awards for Best Play and an Academy Award for the screenplay of Shakespeare in Love. Notable works include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Travesties, The Real Thing and The Invention of Love. His plays combined linguistic dexterity, wit and intellectual curiosity, ranging from absurdist comedy to dramas engaging scientific and philosophical ideas while centering on human characters. He was born Tomas Straussler in Czechoslovakia in 1937 and emigrated with his family to Singapore, India and then England, where his family assimilated into British life.

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