Travesties is a 1974 play by Tom Stoppard. It centres on the figure of Henry Carr, an old man who reminisces about Zürich in 1917 during the First World War, and his interactions with James Joyce when he was writing Ulysses, Tristan Tzara during the rise of Dada, and Lenin leading up to the Russian Revolution, all of whom were living in Zürich at that time.

The real Henry Carr was a minor consular official who played Algernon in a production of The Importance of Being Earnest in Zürich in 1917 in a group of actors called The English Players, for whom the real James Joyce was the business manager. Carr and Joyce had an angry disagreement after the production, which led to legal action and accusations of slander by Joyce. The dispute was settled with the judge deciding in favour of both disputants on different counts. Joyce later had his revenge by parodying Carr and the English Consul General in Zürich at that time, A. Percy Bennett, as two minor characters in Ulysses, with Carr being portrayed as a drunken, obscene soldier in the "Circe" episode.^[1]

In the 1970s, Tom Stoppard, struck by the fact that Joyce, Vladimir Lenin and the Dadaist poet Tristan Tzara were all in Zurich in 1917, wrote a play that brought all three together seen through the unreliable memory of the octogenarian Carr looking back five decades later. In Travesties Carr is the central figure with the others in orbit around him. He is seen both as an old man reminiscing and as the young man of 1917 – the same actor plays both Carrs.

After the first performance of Travesties, Stoppard received a letter from Henry Carr's widow expressing her surprise that her late husband had been included as a character in Stoppard's play.^[2]

The play is set in Zürich, Switzerland during the First World War and in the 1970s. In 1917, three historicallly important figures were living in Zürich: the modernist author James Joyce, the communist revolutionary Lenin, and the Dada founder Tristan Tzara. The play centres on the less notable Henry Carr, a British consular official, as he recalls his encounters with these three. As he reminisces, Carr's memory becomes prone to distraction, and the narrative veers away from historical accuracy.

The young Carr spies on Lenin, argues with Tzara about the nature of true art, is persuaded by Joyce to play Algernon and later quarrels over the cost of buying new trousers for the role. The old Carr concludes the first act:

I dreamed about him, dreamed I had him in the witness box, a masterly cross-examination, case practically won, admitted it all, the whole thing, the trousers, everything, and I flung at him – "And what did you do in the Great War?" "I wrote Ulysses," he said. "What did you do?"
Bloody nerve.^[3]

After further confused memories and mix-ups in the second act, the old Carr concludes the play:

Great days ... Zurich during the war. Refugees, spies, exiles, painters, poets, writers, radicals of all kinds. I knew them all. Used to argue far into the night – at the Odeon, the Terrasse – I learned three things in Zurich during the war. I wrote them down. Firstly, you're either a revolutionary or you're not, and if you're not you might as well be an artist as anything else. Secondly, if you can't be an artist, you might as well be a revolutionary …
I forget the third thing.^[4]

Awards

1976 Broadway Production

• 1976 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play
• 1976 Tony Award for Best Play
• 1976 Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy
• 1976 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play^[16] – John Wood

Nominations

2017 West End Production

• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival^[17]
• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor – Tom Hollander^[17]
• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Freddie Fox^[17]
• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Claire Foster^[17]
• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Sound Design – Adam Cork^[17]
• WhatsOnStage Award for Best Play Revival^[18]
• WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Play – Freddie Fox^[18]

2018 Broadway Revival

• Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play^[16]
• Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play^[16] – Tom Hollander
• Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Play^[16] – Adam Cork
• Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play^[16] – Patrick Marber
• Drama Desk Award for Best Revival of a Play^[19]
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play^[19] – Tom Hollander
• Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway)^[20]
• Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play – Tom Hollander^[20]
• Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Director of a Play – Patrick Marber^[20]
• Drama League Award for Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play^[21]
• Distinguished Performance Award – Tom Hollander and Seth Numrich^[21]