Tom Stoppard, Professional Foul

Joe Nordgren (Lamar University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1977

Places

United Kingdom (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Cinema/ Film/ TV
- Screenplay

Resources

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Professional Foul

was first broadcast on BBC2 on 24 September 1977 and subsequently won the British Television Critics’ Award as Best Play for the year. Its genesis, however, began in January 1977 when Czechoslovakian authorities arrested playwright Válcav Havel for his part in instigating a human rights movement that opposed government oppression. The movement’s charter, famously known as

Charter 77

, claimed the Czech people had been denied the rights and freedoms guaranteed to them when President Gustáv Husák signed the Helsinki Accords (1975) and its International Covenants on Human Rights. In the early months of 1977, Stoppard, a longtime member of Amnesty International, traveled to Russia and Czechoslovakia, where he met with several political dissidents, including Válcav…

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1539 words

Citation: Nordgren, Joe. "Professional Foul". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 March 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2552, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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