Heroes

Play Opened 18 October 2005, Closed 14 January 2006

Wyndham's Theatre Charing Cross Road, London

Heroes is Tom Stoppard's English language adaptation of Gerald Sibleyras' play Le Vent de Peupliers (The Wind in the Poplars).

Set in French military hospital in 1959 where Gustave, Philippe and Henri are three veterans planning their escape. Stars Richard Griffiths, John Hurt and Ken Stott.

"A direct theatrical hit - A boulevard comedy bull's eye" The London Evening Standard

"The comedy might be gentle, but Stoppard's brilliant translation and the super-trouper cast make Heroes a must... The play never quite gives in to the overwhelming sense of sadness that hovers around the lives of these men, preferring instead to play up their eccentricities, their follies, their quiet desperation. It can be sentimental yet the cast and script are so gently beguiling that it's hard to be affronted." The Sunday Times

"A masterclass in wonderful acting... hilarious and moving... achingly funny, and piercingly sad" The Daily Telegraph

"Without a doubt, Thea Sharrock's production of Heroes offers a masterclass in acting, with Ken Stott, Richard Griffiths and John Hurt in three of the finest, funniest, most poignant performances to be seen in the West End. I can't, however, see every middle-aged male actor in Britain and America queueing to play all three parts in a run that lasts for years and years because, absorbing and artful as Tom Stoppard's translation of Gerald Sibleyras's work is, it's nothing like as playful or as provocative as Art... But it passes the time while also, very subtly, breaking our hearts." The Mail on Sunday

"Heroes is aching to step into the spot vacated by Yasmina Reza's long-running Art: short French play with three men which says it all about friendship. Gerald Sibleyras's comedy has a lustrous cast; it's translated by Tom Stoppard and directed by the sharp Thea Sharrock... There are a couple of good Stoppardian jokes and some winning bits of business from extraordinary actors... But Sibleyras has supplied a bland evening. He plays around with a bit of farce... he puts a tentative toe into tragedy, but the whole thing might as well all take place on Hovis Hill, so gently and evenly regretful is the mood." The Observer

Tom Stoppard on translating the play: "One of the attractions of translating Heroes is that it's not the kind of play that I write. If it had been, I probably wouldn't have wanted to translate it. There are no one-liners. It's much more a truthful comedy than a play of dazzling wit. It's a kind of exquisite pain. You feel rather mean for laughing at these characters because, for them, there is nothing amusing about their plight. Nothing much changes for these men. It's another day and they're still there, still turning over the same hopes and fears." The plays author Gerald Sibleyras on the translation: "I was honoured but also a bit anxious when Tom agreed to translate my play because I didn't know how he works. In the event, he asked me every time he wanted to change a line and, slowly but surely, the play improved. It's much tighter now."