Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt” at the Huntington Theatre

How often do we see a great dramatist grappling with a monumental and tragic part of his family history that he did not know – or did not want to know – until middle age, and with the resulting pangs of conscience?

That's the backstage drama behind Tom Stoppard's heartbreaking but flawed “Leopoldstadt,” a mea culpa in theatrical form now playing at the Huntington under the direction of Carey Perloff.

“Leopoldstadt,” winner of last year’s Tony Award for Best Play, ran on Broadway from October 2022 to July 2023. Set between 1899 and 1955, with stops in 1924 and 1938, it tells the multi-generational story of a Jewish family in Vienna decimated by the Holocaust.

Given the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the United States, “Leopoldstadt” is grimly timely. Because the story is too urgent to be embellished with filigree, Stoppard relies less in “Leopoldstadt” on the dazzling wordplay that has long been one of his trademarks, stretching back to the mid-1960s, when “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” heralded the arrival of a huge talent.

Another of Stoppard's trademarks – working on a large canvas and populating it – is the focus of “Leopoldstadt.” And this is where the play runs into difficulties.

There are almost three dozen characters in Leopoldstadt. Admittedly, this playwright has always challenged his audience and made them work hard. And far be it from me (or anyone) to explain to Tom Stoppard his task.

However, the emotional impact of “Leopoldstadt” would be enhanced by featuring fewer characters, as we would better understand who is who, how they relate to each other, and what the significance of this or that action is. Joshua Harmon's “Prayer for the French Republic” achieved this a year ago at the Huntington. With a total of 11 characters, Harmon traces the experiences of a Jewish family in Paris in the years 1944-1946 and 2016-2017.

Still, Perloff's direction of Leopoldstadt is very assured, enhanced by the exceptional work of the stage team: Ken MacDonald (stage), Alex Jaeger (costumes), Jane Shaw (sound and original music), Robert Wierzel (lighting) and Yuki Izumihara (projections). In her superb biography of Stoppard, Hermione Lee called Perloff “one of the few female directors who worked with him regularly” and wrote that the two had “an excellent working relationship and close friendship.” Perloff, herself a playwright, is also the author of Pinter and Stoppard: A Director's View. (In 2015, Perloff's Kinship premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, starring Cynthia Nixon.)

“Leopoldstadt” begins in 1899 with a scene of domestic warmth in the Merz family’s apartment. Those present include Emilia (Phyllis Kay), the matriarch; her son Hermann (Nael Nacer, who, as always, exudes a captivating power); their daughter Eva (Rachel Felstein); Hermann’s gentle wife Gretl (Brenda Meaney), who, unbeknownst to her husband, is having an affair with a young officer named Fritz (Samuel Adams); Jacob, Hermann and Gretl’s 8-year-old son (Quinn Murphy, who alternates the role with Elias Wettengel); Ludwig, Eva’s husband (Firdous Bamji); Ludwig’s sister Wilma (Sarah Corey); and Wilma’s husband Ernst (Maboud Ebrahimzadeh).

Hermann is convinced that assimilation has given Austrian Jews security. “We are Austrians now!” he exclaims. “Austrians of Jewish origin.” Ernst is skeptical, lists the signs of persistent anti-Semitism in Austria and points out how quickly the tide could turn.

That moment comes (after a scene set in 1924) as the action shifts to 1938. Here Stoppard shows his talent for dramatic distillation. We experience chills to the core as the family is drawn into the anti-Jewish pogrom that became known as Kristallnacht. The evil that the Nazis represented is embodied by a single paramilitary figure (Samuel Douglas). As he terrorizes the family and then unceremoniously drives them out of their home, his every word and action make clear the extent to which he views Jews as less than human.

Stoppard, now 87, was long considered a typical Brit – and saw himself that way too. In the early 1990s, he learned of his Jewish identity. All four of his grandparents were Jewish and died in concentration camps, as did three of his mother's sisters.

“I can't remember ever consciously resisting finding out about myself,” Stoppard told Maureen Dowd of the New York Times in 2022. “It's worse. I wasn't actually interested. I was never curious enough. I only looked in one direction: forward.”

Towards the end of the play, in 1955, there is a scene of self-accusation as Stoppard’s replacement named Leo (Mishka Yarovoy) is confronted with the facts that he has tried to suppress for so long. Finally, he forces himself to look back.

LEOPOLDSTADT

Play by Tom Stoppard. Directed by Carey Perloff. Presented by The Huntington in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company. At the Huntington Theatre, Boston. Through October 13. Tickets from $29. 617-266-0800, www.huntingtontheatre.org

Don Aucoin can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @GlobeAucoin.