This event is free but ticketed.

Please note – the February and March play reading groups have been swapped around. ‘Break’ by Christian Jones will now be read in March rather than February.

‘After Magritte’ by Tom Stoppard

‘After Magritte’ is a surreal comedy written in 1970 with Prunella Scales in the original cast. Tom Stoppard wrote it during the period of his well-known plays, ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead’ and ‘The real Inspector Hound’. The idea struck for ‘After Magritte’ came to him while writing the radio play ‘Artist Descending a Staircase’, which was based on a Marcel Duchamp painting of a similar name. Reception from critics was not altogether favourable. One critic, Clive Barnes, referred to ‘After Magritte’ as “a brief Dadaist sketch that somehow does not quite sustain itself”. J. Wynn Rousuck dismissed it as a “trifle” for Stoppard. Todd Everett wrote that “Stoppard’s manic script […] simply doesn’t make much sense.”

A Message from the organiser Chris Gill

We have been running play readings once a month at the Marine Theatre since January 2023. The Theatre continues kindly to provide the venue free to support community drama. We have a small group of regular attenders and we are always pleased to welcome new people, whether they want to read or just listen. The selection for January to March is giving new authors a chance, with two so far unperformed plays being given their first outing in January and March. In February we will pay homage to Tom Stoppard, who sadly died last year, with a reading of ‘After Magritte’.

If you want to go on our circulation list or have any questions about the meetings, please
contact Chris Gill through the Marine Theatre.

Please remember to bring with you a paper or screen copy of the script if you wish to read. We are not able to provide copies.