Enter a Free Man is a play by Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard

Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...

 that follows the story of an unsuccessful inventor named George Riley. The play was first performed on March 28, 1968 at the St. Martin's Theatre. It was directed by Frith Banbury and starred Michael Hordern

Michael Hordern

Sir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre, which stretched back to before the Second World War.-Personal life:...

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Plot

George is determined to follow his unrealistic dreams, despite the fact that his behavior becomes a problem for his wife Persephone and his daughter Linda. He even has to borrow money from his daughter, money which he spends at the local pub. George believes he has found a great new idea in reusable envelopes, but of course his plans do not come to fruition. He continues to put his family under pressure just as his daughter has begun searching for her own independence in the form of men. While George threatens to leave and Linda tries, the play concludes with everyone in the same position in which they had begun the story. Stoppard implies that perhaps this is actually, for all of its pitfalls, the best situation.