Travesties - Definition and Overview

Travesties is a comedic play by Tom Stoppard, first produced in 1975. It takes place in Zurich during World War I and explores three important 20th-century personalities who lived in Zurich at that time: modernist author James Joyce, communist revolutionary Lenin, and Dadaist Tristan Tzara. Their stories are told years later by Henry Carr, an Englishman who knew all three of them during the World War but since then has lost parts of his memory.

The play also makes many references to Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest--its female characters are named Gwendolen and Cecily. This occurs because Henry Carr (who was a real person) once acted in a production of Earnest with James Joyce.

In order to tell this story, Stoppard uses many intellectual and theatrical devices including puns, limericks, and songs.

Example Usage of Travesties