Before the Year Runs Out

Before 2007 arrives, I should deal with the Stoppard-related links that have accumulated since the start of December.

In the wake of the Litvenenko murder, Stoppard was caught in the verbal crossfire when his seminar at the Humanities University in Moscow was interrupted by the crowd's harassment of the British Ambassador.

Broadway.com interviews Bill Crudup about his role in "The Coast of Utopia."

Dominic Papatola of the St. Paul Pioneer Press interviews Stoppard prior to his speech at the Guthrie. The Star Tribune has a run-down of the event.

Minnesota Public Radio produces an audio interview with Stoppard.

Over at Bloomberg.com, John Simon has little good to say about "Shipwreck."

But Toby Zinman of the Philadelphia Inquirer deems it "fine, emotional stuff."

Kathy Schwiff in Parsippany finds both the first and second installments of the trilogy "uninvolving."