Tom Stoppard (1937 –2025)

 Tom Stoppard, the great English playwright, passed away last week. I saw many of his plays, including his last one, about his apparently late in life discovery that he was Jewish, and that his immediate family had fled Czechoslovakia ahead of  the Nazis, while most of the rest had perished, with a few exceptions.

The play tells the story of three generations of assimilated Jews. You, the audience, of course know how it will end, but they don't, and they are optimistic that their current troubles will soon pass.  It's an eerie feeling to watch that play amidst the world's current uncertainties. 

The NYT tells his story through that final play.

When Tom Stoppard Confronted His Background in His Final Play
The playwright, who learned about his Jewish heritage late in life, addressed it in the Tony Award-winning drama “Leopoldstadt.”   By Marc Tracy

"Stoppard’s final play, too, contained characters whose fates were tragically preordained. The rest is silence."