Tom Stoppard has issued a bleak warning about the future ahead of his Rock ‘n’ Roll theatre revival

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Stoppard, 86 is bringing back Rock ‘n’ Roll, which premiered at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 2006, for a new production at the Hampstead Theatre and, in a new interview, he has suggested that the play predicted what has become known as “cancel culture”. It’s fear of speaking out of turn that prompted the Czech-born Stoppard to share his not-so-positive musings on the future, stating the belief the “world has changed” since he shot to fame in 1960. Even saying that much would trouble some of my friends for sure.” Stoppard, who settled in Britain after fleeing imminent Nazi occupation, reiterated his fears while speaking to Evening Standard, adding: “I grew up in an England which I learned to revere as being a place where certain virtues were actually invented, and free expression in the public print was one of them,” he said. There’s a great sensitivity about how you can talk about anything which might obscurely offend part of the readership.” open image in gallery Tom Stoppard with ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ director Nina Raine Stoppard said he is somewhat hopeful for the UK as “we actually live in a country where there is freedom of speech in politics, and we’re looking at countries all over the place where there is not freedom of speech”.