Several years elapsed between the London premiere of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1967) and Stoppard’s next full-length play, Jumpers (1972). During that hiatus, however, Stoppard was active writing shorter pieces for radio, television, and the stage.

Albert’s Bridge was perhaps Stoppard’s most notable achievement during this interim period, airing July 13, 1967 on BBC radio shortly after Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead opened in London and winning the Prix Italia Award, the most prestigious international radio award of the time. It falls into a growing line of works that feature a central character – a Moon character, basically – utterly confused or repulsed by the way of the world and determined to escape. For example, Gladys in the radio play If You’re Glad, I’ll be Frank (1966) escapes the chaos of life by taking on the job of talking clock for the phone service. John Brown in the television play A Separate Peace (1966) retires to an asylum despite being perfectly normal. Albert in Albert’s Bridge withdraws into what he hopes will be the lifelong career of singlehandedly painting and repainting the Clufton Bay Bridge rather than using his philosophy degree or joining his father in the family business. In addition to the utterly predictable rhythm and order of his job, Albert loves the perspective on the world that he gets from the bridge’s heights, feeling much like Lord Malquist who sees order materialize only when viewed from afar. When a miscalculation leaves parts of the bridge exposed and rusting, city planners hire 1,799 workers to paint the bridge in a day. The intrusion destroys Albert’s rhythm and happiness, and the weight of the workers catastrophically destroys the bridge itself.