Rough crossing

ComedyTom Stoppard, from an original play by Ferenc MolnarCharacters: 5 male, 1 femaleThe co authors, the composer and most of the cast of a comedy destined for Broadway are simultaneously trying to finish and rehearse the play while crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner. Tom Stoppard's hilarious play has been freely adapted from Ferenc Molnar's classic farce Jatek a Kastelyban."Adaptation in Stoppard's terms means finding a sympathetic text and using it as a springboard for invention that leaves the original far behind this time, Stoppard has found a totally compatible source, matching his temperament at every point, except in irrepressible high spirits around [a] slender central device, he weaves an increasingly amazing pattern of verbal misunderstandings, eccentric character development, showbiz spectacle, and seagoing hazards, all of which come to occupy equal importance in the plot." London Times.