Details

The Coast of Utopia comprises three sequential but self-contained plays, 'Voyage', 'Shipwreck' and 'Salvage'. They tell an epic story of romantics and revolutionaries caught up in the struggle for political freedom in an age of emperors. Set in the mid-19th century in Russia and Europe, the trilogy follows a group of friends who come of age under the Tsarist autocracy of Nicholas I. Among them are the idealist and anarchist Michael Bakunin who was to challenge Marx for the soul of the masses; Ivan Turgenev, author of some of the most enduring works in Russian literature; the brilliant, erratic young critic Vissarion Belinsky; and Alexander Herzen, a nobleman's son and the first self-proclaimed socialist in Russian history, who becomes the main focus of a drama of politics, love, , loss and betrayal. The action, involving more than fifty characters, takes in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, Nice and London.

Cast/Performers

Thomas Arnold, Eve Best, John Carlisle, Martin Chamberlain, Raymond Coulthard, Simon Day, Felicity Dean, Stephen Dillane, Janine Duvitski, Charlotte Emmerson, Rachel Ferjani, Guy Henry, Douglas Henshall, Richard Hollis, Jack James, Will Kean, Jennifer Scott Maldon, Sarah Manton, Anna Maxwell Martin, Iain Mitchell, John Nolan, Paul Ritter, Nick Sampson, Jonathan Slinger, Janet Specer-Turner, Kemal Sylvester, Sam Troughton, David Verry, Lucy Whybrow

Creatives/Company

Author: Tom Stoppard
Company: Royal National Theatre
Director: Trevor Nunn
Design: William Dudley
Lighting: David Hersey
Choreographer: David Bolger