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Tom Stoppard, playwright whose last work explored his family’s Holocaust history, dies at 88

JL;DR SUMMARY Tom Stoppard, a revered playwright renowned for his intellectual and dynamic plays, passed away at 88. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

HolocaustJewish IdentityViennaTom StoppardLeopoldstadtAssimilationTony AwardPlaywrightBritish Theater

Places mentioned

Zlín, Zlínský, Czechia
"He would visit Zlin, his hometown and meet people who knew his father as a doctor including a young girl, now an older woman, whose hand he had stitched after she broke a pane of glass."
Dorset, United Kingdom
"He will be remembered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language, his family said in a statement announcing his death at home in Dorset, England."
Vienna, Austria
"The play, which portrayed a Jewish family grappling with how to respond to rising antisemitic ferment in their native Vienna, won the Tony for best play after it opened on Broadway in 2022."
Singapore
"Stoppards own biological father had been killed during World War II in Singapore, where the family had moved the day the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia."
India
"As the Japanese closed in on Singapore, Martha sought refuge in India with Stoppard and his brother."
New York City, New York, United States
"Five Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1968), Travesties (1974), The Real Thing (1986), The Coast of Utopia (2007) and Leopoldstadt later won best play when they transferred to Broadway in New York City."

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Retrieved 2025-11-30 18:00:23 UTC
Curated 2025-11-30 19:00:41 UTC