PicksInSix Review: Leopoldstadt - Writers Theatre
Stoppard’s ‘Leopoldstadt’ Brings History To Life.
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Catey Sullivan
Like the rest of his dazzling work, Tom Stoppard’s final play “Leopoldstadt” contains worlds within worlds within worlds. Like “Arcadia,” “Leopoldstadt” is silvered through with the arcs of mind-bending poetics of physics and higher mathematics. Like “Rock n Roll,” it illuminates the unfathomable cruelty and slaughter of genocidal fascists. And like every drama Stoppard penned, family, death, philosophy, history, art history and existential crisis skein together to create a dense, intense depiction of humankind that’s both general and acutely specific.
Spanning roughly 56 years from 1899 through 1955, “Leopoldstadt” shows the impact of two wars on a sprawling wealthy Jewish family that is brutally stripped of both wealth and decimated almost entirely by the Holocaust. Leopoldstadt, Vienna is the family home in 1899, but Stoppard crosses oceans with this epic, intimate drama. After the Anschluss, the fortunate go into exile. The rest are herded to the death camps. It falls to the family’s few survivors—scattered across Britain, New York and Europe—to remember the dead, come to terms with their losses and forge futures.
With a 24-person ensemble (plus five understudies), a nearly three-hour run time and more than 400 Alex Jaeger costume elements, “Leopoldstadt” is one of the largest productions Writers Theatre has tackled over the course of its 35-year history. Running through August 9 at the Glencoe venue, the drama’s dense thickets of exposition are at times overwhelming, and a bit laborious. Despite that, director Carey Perloff’s staging cuts to the quick more than a few times. “Leopoldstadt” brings history to life through a remarkable, relatable family.
That said, “Leopoldstadt” can be frustrating here, especially when it comes to keeping track of characters as they age from infancy to retirement. It’s a richer, more gratifying experience if you’re well-versed in the family tree contained in the program. But if you’re not, “Leopoldstadt” remains a compelling dive into humankind’s most grotesque and hateful inclinations as well as its ability to survive even when your government is openly campaigning to destroy you and everyone you hold dear.
This all sounds grim, but—as ever with Stoppard—“Leopoldstadt” is often undeniably humorous. Writer’s cast is a league of champions. Among the many standouts: Barbara E. Robertson as matriarch Grandma Emilia, a steely and regal figure. Kate Fry is heartbreaking as Gretl, a Christian who married into the family. Before the first world war, Gretl is a glamorous young woman who sits for Klimt, one of the most important artists to come out of Vienna. (Gretl’s portrait becomes a key plot late in the story). When we see Gretl decades later, she’s transformed: Wild-haired and mentally ill, newly escaped from a mental institution. The traumas she endured are not specified, but anyone with a grasp of basic history will grasp the nature of what she’s surely endured. And as Rosa, one of the family’s few survivors, Jessie Fisher gets the last passage of dialogue, and it is a gut-punch. In a monotone and with a face of near stone, she lists the names of each family member who died during the Holocaust, and where they were ultimately killed.
The Writers production of “Leopoldstadt” doesn’t have the grandeur (or, ostensibly, the budget) of the Broadway production, especially in the 1899 scene when the burgeoning family has gathered for Christmas. Set designer Ken MacDonald doesn’t quite capture the expanse or lavishness one would expect from the (initially) wealthy family. That’s not a major issue. Writers does a competent, often dazzling, job with “Leopoldstadt.” The history it tackles is currently being denied by wide swaths of the population—which makes the challenging, engaging drama all the more important.
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | CATEY SULLIVAN has been covering Chicago theater for more than 30 years. Her work has been published in the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Reader, Windy City Times, Playbill, Chicago Magazine, Chicago Tribune and New City, among others. She has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Illinois.
PHOTO|Michael Brosilow
Writers Theatre
presents
LEOPOLDSTADT
325 Tudor Court
Glencoe, IL
EXTENDED through August 16, 2026
WEBSITE
PROGRAM
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