The Real Thing

Often regarded as Tom Stoppard’s best play, this production is a—perhaps the—high point in the Guthrie’s 2006-07 season. A masterpiece of wit that also grapples with romantic love and the havoc wrought by extramarital affairs, the story centers around Henry, a successful playwright often thought to be a stand-in for Stoppard. Henry has just penned a play about infidelity—and, no surprise, there is certainly a “play within a play” dynamic about this. But it is his real-life circumstances that leave him wondering whether he has finally found the “real thing” in his new mistress and in his life’s work as a writer—which he must now crank out in short order to fund alimony payments to the wife he betrayed. 612-377-2224; www.guthrietheater.org