TX BBC Radio 4 31st March 2026
To complement Radio 4’s upcoming season celebrating Tom Stoppard, including repeats of his radio plays and archive interviews, this feature will give us a behind the scenes insight into the man himself, focussing on what it was like to work with him and the practicalities of his craft.
Famously convivial, warm and positive, he created an enormous and eclectic canon of work, conjuring plays from philosophical ideas and a desire to demystify tricky concepts and elusive mathematical formulae. How did he share his intelligence in rehearsal? How did his singularity of purpose infect the rehearsal room? And how did he negotiate with his fellow collaborators – actors, directors and fellow writers – in both theatre and film?
Prominent practitioners will be asked about Tom Stoppard in development, in rehearsal, maybe in moments of doubt and disapproval, and how he navigated the great collaboration of production.
Sound design by Peter Ringrose
Producers: Jessica Dromgoole and Mary Peate
A Hooley production for BBC Radio 4