THE REAL THING (1982) is a funny, caustic examination of infidelity that centres on a witty, emotionally repressed playwright called Henry.
THE REAL THING was first produced in 1982 on London’s West End. Its commercial and critical success was followed two years later by a production on Broadway in New York, with Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons in the main roles. That production won several Awards.
The play focuses upon Henry, who, much like Stoppard, is a successful playwright. Henry is married to an actress, Charlotte, who is playing the lead in his current play. However, he has fallen in love with another actress, Annie, for whom he soon leaves Charlotte. But is his new love ‘‘the real thing?’’ Underlying the major themes of love and adultery are related concerns; Does art influence life? Can life imitate art? Must art have a political and social value, as many people in Britain were then arguing, or can it stand alone, as art for art’s sake?
"...not only Stoppard's most moving play, but also the most bracing play that anyone has written about love and marriage in years." Frank Rich, The New York Times
"...terriffic...gusty and cheerfully intellectual...measurably funny, immeasurably clever and unexpectedly moving." Clive Barnes, New York Post
"The Real Thing brings romantic comedy back to Broadway...It marks the return of radiance -- verbal, intellectrual, emotional, theatrical -- to a Broadway too long in the dark." Richard Corliss, Time
