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244:. The play unfolds in short scenes that trace, primarily, Housman's relationship with Moses Jackson, for whom he harboured a lifelong unrequited love. The scenes also explore late-Victorian artistic ideals, and Housman's intellectual growth into a preeminent Latin textual scholar. Throughout the play, the older Housman comments on and occasionally talks to the characters, including his younger self.
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Considered by many to be
Stoppard's finest play, it has been called "esoteric". In fact, to demystify the play's many historical and academic references, the New York production team provided the audiences with a 30-page booklet on the political and artistic history of the
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224:, contended that the character of Housman and those in his circle are fabulated for dramatic effect, and the play's difficulties are not historical but its own. This clarified, he cited it in 2003 as Stoppard's "masterpiece to date".
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The play begins with A. E. Housman, dead at age 77, standing on the bank of the river Styx. About to board the ferry to the afterlife – captained by a petulant
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on 29 March 2001 and closed on 30 June 2001. Directed by Jack O'Brien, the cast starred
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379:"An Abundance of Wit On the London Stage"
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272:in 1998. The old Housman was played by
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206:New York Drama Critics Circle Award
502:"'The Invention of Love' Broadway"
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491:. American Conservatory Theater.
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35:Cover of the Grove Press edition
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638:Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
563:List of awards and nominations
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359:(Nominated)
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321:Tony Awards
193:allusions.
105:Oscar Wilde
85:W. T. Stead
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925:Categories
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613:Travesties
364:References
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51:Characters
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278:Paul Rhys
274:John Wood
191:classical
789:Darkside
472:Archived
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242:Classics
228:Synopsis
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826:Despair
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701:Hapgood
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888:Enigma
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262:London
234:Charon
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342:1998
337:Award
332:1997
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158:Drama
154:Genre
622:and
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431:ISBN
409:2015
169:Styx
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