Professional Foul

"Ethics is a very complicated business." Czech Theater's spring production presents Tom Stoppard's Professional Foul. The story unfolds in Czechoslovakia in 1977 and follows academics, dissidents, sports stars, and secret police agents. A philosophy professor arrives for a weekend conference in Prague intending to be "a little mischievous"—but when his ideas about morality, ethics, and decent behaviour collide with the country's political reality, he must reconsider everything he took for granted. The play was originally written for BBC as part of Amnesty International's "Prisoners of Conscience" campaign.

Tom Stoppard was born as Tomáš Sträussler in Zlín, where his father worked for the Bata shoe company. In 1939 he fled with his family from the Nazis, and after the war became famous in England as a playwright (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead) and won several Tony Awards. As a screenwriter he was nominated for an Oscar (Brazil, 1985) and won one (Shakespeare in Love, 1998).

In 1977 he visited his native country, befriended Václav Havel, and the stories of Czechoslovak dissidents moved him so deeply that he wrote a series of works set in Czechoslovakia—including Professional Foul, which he dedicated to Havel. The performance takes place less than 100 km from Stoppard's birthplace.