''Enter a Free Man'' is a play by

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

that follows the story of an unsuccessful inventor named George Riley. The play was first performed on March 28, 1968, at the St. Martin's Theatre. It was directed by

Frith Banbury Frederick Harold Frith Banbury MBE (4 May 1912 – 14 May 2008) was a British theatre actor and director. Banbury was born in Plymouth, Devon, on 4 May 1912, the son of Rear Admiral Frederick Arthur Frith Banbury and his wife Winifred (n ...

and starred

Michael Hordern Sir Michael Murray Hordern Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (3 October 19112 May 1995)Morley, Sheridan"Hordern, Michael Murray (1911–1995)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online e ...

. It consists largely of material from his 1960 play ''A Walk on Water''. When being interviewed by Giles Gordon in 1968, Stoppard said of ''Enter a Free Man'', "I have worked on it a bit over the last year. In fact I wrote a new scene for it about 3 weeks ago while it was on tour, but it is basically the play I wrote in 1960. I mean it is still a play about the same people in the same situation. There is some new stuff in it and I have thrown out certain things. There was some imagery which went bad on me as things do, I suppose about a third of it has been written in at various times over the last few years." Despite this, ''Enter a Free Man'' has sometimes been described as Stoppard's first play.

Plot

George is determined to follow his unrealistic dreams, despite the fact that his behavior becomes a problem for his wife Persephone and his daughter Linda. He even has to borrow money from his daughter, money which he spends at the local

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

. George believes he has found a great new idea in reusable envelopes, but of course his plans do not come to fruition. He continues to put his family under pressure just as his daughter has begun searching for her own independence in the form of men. While George threatens to leave and Linda tries, the play concludes with everyone in the same position in which they had begun the story. Stoppard implies that perhaps this is actually, for all of its pitfalls, the best situation.

Reception

Clive Barnes of ''

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'' wrote in 1974, "It shows little of the flaunting, dazzling intellectualism that has subsequently become Mr. Stoppard's emblem ..Yet there is always that wit flicking, out at the audience." Leone Lucille Michel wrote, "His ability to create fully developed characters and relationships is limited and he wisely moved away from this type of drama into his own particular type of comedy."

References

1968 plays Plays by Tom Stoppard {{1960s-play-stub