In the turbulent years before the Russian Revolution, political activist Alexander Herzen is undergoing a change of philosophy. The deaths of his wife and young son have forced him to question the meaning of life, sacrifice, and social change: Is there a way to have a revolution without death and destruction? Together with his best friend Nicholas Ogarev, Herzen sets out to begin a revolution by the pen rather than the sword. But, as the next generation of radicals comes up more hungry and violent than ever, Herzen finds his path to peaceful progress is no less fraught.
The final play in Stoppard’s Coast of Utopia trilogy revels in the tension between order and chaos, lurching from one raucous scene to the next, challenging the viewer to keep up with overlapping conversations, changing allegiances, and storms of emotion.
With a total run-time of over nine hours and 70 characters, the Coast of Utopia is a daunting theatrical cycle, and has been performed to great acclaim throughout the USA and Russia. In 2007, the play and its performers won a total of seven Tony awards.
The Coast of Utopia: Salvage guide sections
