India, Dec. 2 -- In 1917, as the First World War roiled Europe and other parts of the globe, Zurich was a rare oasis of peace. The largest city of neutral Switzerland attracted spies, exiles and anti-war activists, including some very influential ones such as the Irish novelist James Joyce, the Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin and the Dadaist poet Tristan Tzara. Struck by this coincidence, British playwright Tom Stoppard, who died on 29 November at the age of 88, brought the three of them together in his play, Travesties.

Like much of Stoppard's work, Travesties, first performed in London by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1974, was a post-modern reworking of a classic play - in this case, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of B...