Tom Stoppard's "The Hard Problem" Is Loquacious, Sagacious & Hard to Resolve at Lincoln Center

Tom Stoppard (b Czech Republic 1937) is amongst the most elite contemporary playwrights & screenwriters.  Stoppard's style is erudite and loquacious; non-stop dialogue that is profound & perplexing. He's received an Acad. Award ("Shakespeare in Love" and 4 Tonys "The Coast of Utopia").  "The Hard Problem" is Stoppard's most recent play.  This erudite play poses theological & ethical points of view without providing definitive resolutions for enigmatic ideologies.  The "hard problems" are multi-pronged and the list is long: the prisoner's dilemma, survivalist strategies, altruism v. self-interest, cost v. benefits, nature v. nurture, artificial intelligence v. consciousness and not least of all, does God exist and does prayer provide merit.  Consideration is also given to coincidence.  Does coincidence have credibility or is it artificially construed?  Hilary (Adelaide Clemens) is the central character.  Hilary believes in prayer or perhaps relies on it to bring her comfort & peace of mind for the daughter Catherine she gave up at birth for adoption.  We meet her as a grad student bantering with her tutor turned lover Spencer (Chris O'Shea) about philosophy.  Spencer a.k.a. Spike defines the "hard problem" as the prisoner's dilemma; a survivalist mentality over integrity where one prisoner will turn on the other to save themselves rather than place trust in their cohort.  Perhaps, this is the mainstay take away "save your own ass" is the most sagacious modus operandi.  Alas, there are plenty more conundrums Stoppard's esoteric writing presents.  After getting her degree, Hilary is hired by a hedge fund co. that also dabbles in neurological studies with the intent of gaining an edge in investing thru insider information.  The convoluted plot and frenzied staging are combative to cogent storytelling.  A lot of the plot does not compute but confounds the consciousness of what is being assessed.  The capacities of the human mind are inconceivable.  So too are many of the lofty queries Stoppard puts forth with rapid fire. Regardless, Stoppard's erudite writing does makes its way into the cerebellum some of the time with intrigue & clarity.  For example, the stock market is irrational and so too is love.  The juxtaposition of both is a calculated construct that resonates.  The leading coincidence of Hilary's daughter being adopted by the affluent,  ruthless owner of the highly successful company for whom she works, doesn't work.  Still, his compassion to Hilary for opening a doorway to his adoptive daughter makes him a surprising & affecting outlier. The overriding essence from "The Hard Problem" is a healthy pastiche of skepticism & faith.