Burning Coal Theatre presents TRAVESTIES, by Tom Stoppard. A dazzling, fast-talking comedy where history, memory, and total absurdity collide—featuring appearances by figures like James Joyce and Vladimir Lenin. Sharp, chaotic, and wildly funny in a way that keeps you leaning forward the entire time.

Tom Stoppard was a British playwright and screenwriter. He was born on July 3rd, 1937, in the Czech Republic. After his father was killed while working in Singapore, his family escaped to India in 1947. Stoppard eventually started his career as a journalist in Bristol in 1954. 6 years later, he moved to London and began writing plays. Stoppard wrote Travesties after realizing that three revolutionaries - Irish poet and novelist James Joyce, founder of Dadaism Tristan Tzara, and Vladimir Lenin - were all living in Zurich at the same time during the First World War. The play is mainly written from the perspective of Henry Carr, a former British consul who knew James Joyce through performing the lead role in The Importance of Being Earnest.