Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (play)

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour is a stage play by Tom Stoppard with music by André Previn. It was first performed in 1977. The play criticises the Soviet practice of treating political dissidence as a form of mental illness. Its title derives from the popular mnemonic used by music students to remember the notes on the lines of the treble clef. The cast comprises six actors, but also a full orchestra, which not only provides music throughout the play but also forms an essential part of the action. A chamber-orchestra version exists.

The play is dedicated to Viktor Fainberg and Vladimir Bukovsky, two Soviet dissidents expelled to the West.

The play concerns a dissident, Alexander Ivanov, who is imprisoned in a Soviet mental hospital, from which he will not be released until he admits that his statements against the government were caused by a (non-existent) mental disorder.

In the hospital he shares a cell with a genuinely disturbed schizophrenic, also called Ivanov, who believes himself to have a symphony orchestra under his command. Alexander receives visits from the Doctor and from a Colonel in the KGB.

Meanwhile, his son, Sacha, is seen in a school classroom with a teacher who attempts to convince him of the genuineness of his father's illness.

Because of the difficulties in staging a play that requires a full orchestra in addition to the cast of actors, the play is rarely performed.

Its 1977 premiere was staged at the Royal Festival Hall in London as part of Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee. That performance featured Ian McKellen (Alexander), John Wood (Ivanov) and Patrick Stewart (the Doctor), as well as the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Previn.

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