Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at Olivier Theatre

A dissident is locked up in an asylum. If he accepts that he was ill, has been treated and is now cured, he will be released. He refuses. Sharing his cell is a real lunatic who believes himself to be surrounded by an orchestra. As the dissident's son begs his father to free himself with a lie, Tom Stoppard's darkly funny and provocative play asks if denying the truth is a price worth paying for liberty.

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour was first perfomred in 1977 and has music composed by Andre Previn. This new production is staged with the pioneering orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia.The title derives from the popular mnemonic used by music students to remember the notes on the lines of the treble clef.

The play was written at the request of Andre Previn and was inspired by a meeting with Russian exile Viktor Fainberg and based in part at least on the experiences of another Soviet dissident, Vladimir Bukovsky.