The Mathematical Heart of Tom Stoppard

Abstract

Mathematics represents a conspicuous through-line in Tom Stoppard’s body of work. The allusions to the Riemann hypothesis in the recently produced Leopoldstadt (2020) form a notable bookend with the musings on probability in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1966) that launched Stoppard’s career. In the intervening decades, the playwright’s ongoing self-education in mathematics surfaces in a series of cleverly staged debates about providence versus free will, the existence of moral absolutes, and the origins of human consciousness. Contrary to expectations, the mathematics in these plays most often serves as a catalyst for the persistence of uncertainty in a rising tide of rationalism. The decision to place a pure mathematician at the centre of Leopoldstadt, an autobiographically-inspired family epic about the Holocaust, reveals the depth of Stoppard’s fondness for mathematics and his faith in its potential to tell human stories. As it has in earlier plays, the mathematics in Leopoldstadt offers a distinctive commentary about the tension between rational order and randomness while also making a quiet case for the perseverance of beauty in the darkest of possible worlds.