Tom Stoppard’s first full length play, “A Walk on Water,” was staged in 1964. Two years later, he gained worldwide fame with his play, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” about two minor characters in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Besides the two dozen plus plays he’s written, Stoppard’s adapted lots of plays and books for film and television
“The Real Thing” came to the stage in 1982 in London before a revised edition played on Broadway two years later with Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close, directed by Mike Nichols. It is that version that Lantern Theater has put on its stage. Directed by the multi-talented Peter DeLaurier, it is an extraordinary look at relationships and love through the eyes of his four main characters in England in the early 1980’s.
It begins with Max (Adam Howard) confronting his wife Charlotte (Brett Ashley Robinson) saying that her supposed trip to Switzerland was a coverup for a clandestine affair that she was having. But in the second scene, we are momentarily confused as the two are in a room with Henry (J Fernandez) and Annie (Cambell O’Hare) and we are not sure who is partnered with whom. Henry is a playwright, and the others are stage actors.
It gets more complicated as we see that love exists outside these marriages and we watch the four trying to cope with the desires and ideals of the others. “Is jealousy warranted” and “Is fidelity needed,” the characters ask. We watch them bicker and we watch them love, but we wonder if each is telling the truth.
And then there is the absent character of Brodie who is incarcerated for burning a memorial wreath during a protest. They support his goals, but Henry wonders if his wife has fallen in love with Brodie, or for that matter with Billy (Trevor William Fayle), with whom she is in a play in Scotland.
Though it is a bit confusing at first, we feel for each character as they try to find their way to happiness which one character equates with equilibrium. Stoppard’s words are powerful and profound as they not only analyze sex, but the very verb, “know,” which in biblical times meant to have sexual intercourse. Henry ridicules writers- particularly Brodie who has written a piece- who can’t write because they don’t know how to use words effectively.
The cast was superb with special kudos going to J Fernandez for handling the range of emotions in a very real sense. My only issue with the production was the manner in which the actors spit out their lines so fast that I missed some important information that would have made it less challenging for me. And though I never imagined I would say this- I wish that the two-and-a-half-hour production were longer so that it would give more bite to this extraordinary play… and I wouldn’t miss a line. As Harry says, “words deserve respect.”
We are constantly asking ourselves what the real thing is- about love, commitment, AND sex. It was a great season opener for Lantern Theater.
“The Real Thing” by Tom Stoppard at Lantern Theater Company at St. Stephen’s Theater, 923 Ludlow St., Philadelphia, PA 19107. 215-829-0399 lanterntheater.org extended thru October 5, 2025
Philadelphia Theater Reviews by Frank Burd 