David Bianculli

Coming up, we remember the celebrated playwright Tom Stoppard.

This is Fresh Air.

One of Britain's most celebrated playwrights, Tom Stoppard, died last week at the age of 88.

Condolences and tributes came from King Charles III, Mick Jagger, and the National Theatre in Britain, where many of his plays were first staged.

The theatre released a statement saying that Stoppard's plays, "...with their blend of intellectual curiosity, wit, and narrative experimentation, have made a lasting impact on the National Theatre and on British theatre."

His bold storytelling encouraged audiences to reflect on history, philosophy, and the human experience, unquote.

Stoppard's best-known plays include The Real Thing, Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

He wrote screenplays for the movies Shakespeare in Love, The Human Factor, The Russia House, Billy Bathgate, and Empire of the Sun.

He was knighted in 2007.

Terry Gross spoke with Tom Stoppard in 1991 when the movie adaptation was released of his play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are minor characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

They're Hamlet's old friends who unknowingly become part of a plot to have Hamlet killed, but Hamlet has them executed instead.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern never understand the larger story they are part of.

This predicament, so typical of minor characters, is the subject of Stoppard's absurdist comedy.

The play first opened at London's National Theatre in 1967 and soon after had success on Broadway.

Terry asked Stoppard why he wrote a story about minor characters in Hamlet.

Oh, I enjoyed it.

Thank you very much.

Tom Stoppard speaking with Terry Gross in 1991.

The celebrated playwright died last week at age 88.