FROM TANGO TO ROCK ‘N’ ROLL. A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN TWO DISSIDENT DRAMAS
FROM TANGO TO ROCK ‘N’ ROLL. A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN TWO DISSIDENT DRAMAS

Author(s): Katarzyna Jaworska
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Recent History (1900 till today), Comparative Study of Literature, History of Communism, Drama
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: intelligentsia; rebellion; conformity; totalitarianism; political dissident; rock music;
Summary/Abstract: This paper aims to examine Sławomir Mrożek’s Tango and Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll. Both plays explore the concept of intelligentsia, its role and condition in a postmodern society. Although these plays were written at different periods, they have the same motives of rebellion and conformity. Both texts challenge the conventions of bourgeois drama. Both plays convey an ideological message by criticizing totalitarianism and its influence on society and an individual. Furthermore, popular culture and music that are present in both plays reflect the social and cultural changes of 20th century. Tango and Rock ‘n’ Roll became symbols of a certain culture and ideology. The comparative study of the two plays is aimed at examining such their similarities as, for example, the rise and fall of communist regime in Central Europe.

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