Every Good Boy Deserves Favour - National Theatre, Olivier

SYNOPSIS

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour

January 2009 sees the revival of Tom Stoppard and Andre Previn's 1977 play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. Written and originally performed as part of the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations, this dark comedy asks whether 'the truth' of a situation should be denied, if indeed a lie is the most obvious way of securing freedom from the constraints imposed by others. The drama runs at the National Theatre's Olivier stage during January 2009. Previews are from 12 January; opening night is 16 January 2009.

Russian roots

The inspiration for Every Good Boy Deserves Favour was a meeting that took place between composer Andre Previn and Russian exile Viktor Fainberg. Fainberg was one of a small group of demonstrators who assembled in Moscow's Red Square in 1968 to protest against the Soviet invasion of neighbouring Czechoslovakia. The group were promptly arrested, Viktor Fainberg being held in a cell for five years on the grounds of insanity. The meeting between the two captured Previn's imagination - and so he joined with writer Tom Stoppard to create the play, which also is a tribute to Vladimir Bukovsky - a former Russian dissident who went through a similar experience.

At the heart of the Stoppard's play is the character of Alexander Ivanov - a Russian dissident who finds himself imprisoned in a mental institution. His only chance of freedom is to admit to a (non-existent) mental disorder, and to the story that the hospital has cured him. Ivanov refuses on principal - while his son, Sacha, attempts to persuade him to abandon the truth and his pride to win back his freedom.

Sharing Alexander Ivanov's cell in the play is another Ivanov. He may have the same name but his character is very different - a genuinely disturbed person who is convinced that he has a full orchestra at his command! And in the play he does have - an orchestra and their music being central to the narration of the story, allowing audiences access into the contrasting states of mind of the two lead characters.

Stoppard and Previn

Sir Tom Stoppard is one of stage and screen's leading writers. Born in Czechoslovakia in 1937 he has won many awards for his work, which have included stage plays The Coast of Utopia and screen epics such as Brazil and Shakespeare in Love. Stoppard wrote Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the request of composer Andre Previn. It was first performed on 1 July, 1977 and starred Ian McKellen as Alexander Ivanov, John Wood as the other Ivanov, and Patrick Stewart as the Doctor.

Andre Previn is an award-winning composer, pianist and conductor. He has arranged and composed numerous film scores, including Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in 1961 and Kiss Me, Kate in 1953. Previn conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in the premiere of the play in 1977.