Carrie Cracknell's acclaimed production of Tom Stoppard's modern classic, Arcadia, has transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre for another dazzling delve into science, history, and sex. The play, which interweaves two timelines in a Derbyshire stately home, explores the wonders and mysteries of art and science, writers and their reputations, belief and proof, and what is discovered and lost.
Plot and Themes
In the early 1800s, 13-year-old science prodigy Thomasina Coverley (Isis Hainsworth) makes inspired leaps about the molecular makeup and gradual cooling of the universe, under the amused and then amazed gaze of her clever-dick tutor Septimus Hodge (Seamus Dillane). In the 1990s, academic Hannah (Nikki Amuka-Bird), researching the conversion of Sidley Park's gardens from a classical to a romantic landscape, discovers Thomasina's writings. Bumptious Byron scholar Bernard Nightingale (Oliver Chris) becomes convinced that Byron killed minor poet Ezra Chater in a duel at Sidley Park. Meanwhile, Thomasina's distant relative Valentine (Angus Cooper), a scientist clearly on the autistic spectrum, researches algorithmic patterns in nature through game shoot records.
Production and Performances
Cracknell's production has suffered some entropic cooling since it dazzled at the Old Vic. The in-the-round staging fits less well in what will soon be a bricks-and-mortar monument called the Tom Stoppard Theatre. Alex Eales's design, with Aristotelean spheres above and a central circular table where props accrue, feels less eloquent. While Amuka-Bird and Chris bring new crackle and energy to the rivalry between the academics, Hainsworth, Dillane, and Cooper seem fractionally muted as they reprise their roles.
Stoppard's Legacy
The play stands as a magnificent, living monument to Stoppard's questing intelligence and wit. As one might say about the late, great Stoppard, "It's wanting to know that makes us matter." The production runs until 12 September at the Duke of York's Theatre.
