What’s coming up at Hampstead Theatre?

Posted on 14/11/2023

On the main stage – Rock ’N’Roll   6 December – 27 January

1968: Russian tanks have rolled into Czechoslovakia, and Syd Barrett has been dumped by Pink Floyd. Jan, a visiting postgrad at Cambridge, breaks with his old professor Max, a Marxist philosopher, and heads home to Prague with his suitcase full of “socially negative music”. Rock ’n’ Roll covers the ensuing 21 years in the lives of three generations of Max’s family while Jan is caught in the spiral of dissidence in a Communist police state. But it’s a love story too – and then there’s the music…

Tom Stoppard returns to Hampstead after the triumphant revival of Hapgood (2015). Director Nina Raine also returns to Hampstead where her directing credits include her own play Tiger Country (2011 & 2014) and William Boyd’s Longing (2013).

Downstairs – Nineteen Gardens    until 9 December 

Nearly two years after the end of their affair, John and Aga meet once more.  Each has filled the void left by the other: he has withdrawn into his world of wealth and privilege; she has found herself working as a chambermaid to support her family.  Both recognise that the spark between them is still there.  Will they rekindle what they had, or is an altogether darker game about to be played out…?

Downstairs – This Much I Know   13 December – 27 January. 

A tenured professor of psychology, Lukesh enjoys a life as organised and logical as his mind.  But then his wife vanishes, sending only a text message by way of explanation and leaving him to re-evaluate their relationship. He discovers she has embarked on an epic odyssey, crossing and recrossing Russia and delving deep into Soviet history on a quest to unravel a family mystery of which he was unaware – one in which Josef Stalin himself may be involved.

Jonathan Spector’s play is at once a love story and a kaleidoscopic primer in psychology, history, and the use and abuse of power. 

To find out more and buy tickets, visit https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/main-stage/ or phone 020 7722 9301.