THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE. I have discovered that when we saw and when I posted—for example, here—about Tom Stoppard’s play Rock and Roll, I didn’t know the historical background. A Czech band called the Plastic People of the Universe figured importantly in the play, but I thought the band was simply representative of rock and roll bands in general. I said: “The exacting regulation of life in Czechoslovakia is dramatized through the inability of one character who lives in Czechoslovakia to listen to the music he wants to hear.” True, but the Plastic People of the Universe were politically important. As this wikipedia article on the Plastic People of the Universe describes, the Plastics were central to the the events which led to the fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia. In 1976, the Plastics among others were arrested by the Communist government, convicted of “organized disturbance of the peace” and sentenced to terms in prison ranging from 8 to 18 months. Playwright Vaclav Havel “attended their trial, which centered on the group’s non-conformity in having long hair, using obscenities in their music, and their overall involvement in the Czech underground.” (quotation from this wikipedia article on Havel). To protest these prosecutions, Havel and others published the Charter 77 manifesto. The signatories of Charter 77 became instrumental in the Velvet Revolution in 1989 which led to the formation of the new republic, with Havel becoming the President of Czechoslovakia. Although it was their prosecution which led to Charter 77, the Plastics ” never considered themselves activists and always claimed that they wanted only to play their music.” The thrilling rock concert in the second act of Stoppard’s play celebrates the linking of political freedom and the freedom to play and to listen to the music you want—and celebrates the Plastic People of the Universe.