The early plays of Tom Stoppard were concerned with the God question: the courtiers imported from Shakespeare in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1967) debate the existence of a creator, which is also the theme of the lecture that the moral philosopher George Moore is constantly interrupted while trying to write in Jumpers (1972). And now in what must be regarded as late Stoppard – The Hard Problem comes at the age of 77 after a nine-year theatrical silence – the dramatist returns and resumes the argument.Just as Professor Moore was considered an oddity among philosophers for being a theist, Hilary Matthews, the protagonist of the new play, risks mockery and employment problems because she is a lone religious believer among psychologists and neuroscientists. Her lo
12 February 2015, The Tablet
Ultimate questions
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