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Sydney Theatre 
until 17 May
Bookings: (02) 9250 1777
Rock ‘n’ roll is pure dick. It really is and that is partly why it is so extraordinary.
In the golden age of the 60s and 70s, young men plugged their guitars into amps and with three chords set the world on fire.
Their boundary-shattering music remains timeless. Okay there have been ladies who rock – you could never dismiss Janis or Patti – but it was the blokes who stepped into the smoky spotlight with a Les Paul and became gods.
So it is fitting that the story of this play is told from the viewpoint of two men who challenge the status quo, even if they can’t play an E chord between them.
Playwright Tom Stoppard, himself a god, is brave giving this title to a play as it sets up such high expectations. But then the play is also about a lot of other things besides rock ‘n’ roll (my opening night guest declared it was about everything except the music), as it recalls the chilling days of 1968 in Czechoslovakia when ‘socialism with a human face’ faltered.
The play celebrates passionate people unafraid to use their minds and how they survive and get reborn. Typically, Stoppard’s play has a lot of sparkling wit and big ideas.
He manages to work in debate about resisting ‘systems’ Communist and Capitalist, the poetry of Sappho, Syd Barrett (the tragic founding member of Pink Floyd) and probably a lot of other things that went over my head.
The play also runs close to three hours and a noticeable number of audience members didn’t make the distance. I have thought a lot about the play in the past week and it warrants thinking about, but sitting in the theatre I felt mostly frustrated.
Director Simon Phillips stages the proceedings stylishly and I was chuffed that one of the main protagonists, Jan (Matthew Newton), and I cherish the same rock albums.
It was great hearing those rock classics punctuate scenes, but not so great having to work so hard to hear the dialogue. With Stoppard you need crystal diction and apart from Alex Menglet, who is effective in two supporting roles, it didn’t seem anyone else had the stagecraft to play to a house of that size. But then maybe I had a bad seat or maybe I need an ear trumpet.
I’m still glad I saw it, even if it is not the perfect play, perfectly realised.
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