The Invention of Love

A pretty juicy piece of festive programming from Hampstead Theatre: Simon Russell Beale and Matthew Tennyson star as the old and young incarnations of Victorian poet AE Housman in the first major British revival for Tom Stoppard’s hugely acclaimed 1997 play. As ever with Stoppard, the main reason The Invention of Love hasn’t been revived in over 25 years probably boils down to how dizzyingly high concept it is: the play follows a deceased Housman as he crosses the River Styx and returns to Oxford University, then voyages through the high Victorian era. Blanch McIntyre directs.