Leopoldstadt

Set against the tumultuous backdrop of 20th-century Vienna, Tom Stoppard's 'Leopoldstadt' is an epic and profoundly personal drama that chronicles the lives of the extended Merz family. At the turn of the century, the assimilated Jewish manufacturer Hermann Merz, married to a Catholic, believes he has moved beyond the old Jewish quarter of Leopoldstadt. Yet, as the generations gather in their fashionable city apartment, they are unwitting witnesses to the inexorable march of history. From the glittering pre-war intellectualism to the devastating convulsions of two world wars, revolution, and the eventual annexation by Nazi Germany, the play traces the family's journey through love, ambition, and identity. Ultimately, it confronts the unspeakable horror of the Holocaust, which decimated Austrian Jewry, leaving a few survivors to grapple with memory, loss, and the profound responsibility of passing on a story that, tragically, continues to resonate.