★★★★★
Five Stars
“It’s all because of sex,” declares Chloe Coverly, with simple conviction. “The universe is deterministic all right, but the thing going wrong is people fancying people who aren’t supposed to be part of the plan.” “Ah,” replies Valentine, characteristically ironic: “The attraction that Newton left out.”
This is one of Arcadia‘s perhaps less rational but no less convincingly aired answers to life, the universe, and everything. Each character in Tom Stoppard’s masterpiece is passionately attempting to make sense of the world, twisting maths, literature, grouse and gardens together in a mesmerising story spanning two centuries. If that sounds a little confusing, don’t worry: the cast’s pithy and effortless skill on stage make even scientific formulae comprehensible.
In 1809 at English manor house Sidley Park, the precocious Thomasina (Amelia Sparling) is learning algebra, the meaning of ‘carnal embrace’, and a theory that might change the universe with her charismatic professor Septimus Hodge (David Shields). Shields’ brazen confidence is outrageously funny as he confidently manipulates the characters around him: accused by Mr. Charter of insulting his wife in the gazebo, Shields replies with offended gusto:”You are mistaken. I made love to your wife in the gazebo!” Sparling is equally proficient, creating a character with a disconcerting mixture of childish immaturity and cutting insight.
Almost two hundred years later, author Hannah Jarvis (Carla Kingham) and literature professor Bernard Nightingale (Ed Barr-Sim) are drawn to Sidley Park for research purposes: Hannah is investigating the mysterious hermit of the park; Bernard is almost ferociously desperate to prove a theory about Byron (who visited the manor) that might make or break his literary career. Some may find Bernard a recognisable character: a lecturer in love with the sound of his own voice, he delights in awful puns and patronising put-downs, and is infuriatingly superior yet still somehow lovable. At one point he exits stage flamboyantly with a sleazy wink proclaiming, “Aren’t you glad I’m here?” The audience, at least, certainly is.
The frequent flicks through time create a play full of tense and occasionally heart-breaking audience privilege, whilst poignantly suggesting links through generations that reflect the play’s scientific discussion of chain reaction on a more human scale. Whilst the characters are blindly focused on their own aims, a playful irony lies in the fact that the magic of the play stems from the actors’ believable and fascinating relationships. Only Hannah remarks strikingly on every character’s intrinsic link: “Comparing what we’re looking for misses the point. It’s wanting to know that makes us matter.”
After a whirlwind ride through chaos theory, poetry and duels, Arcadia spins to a vivid finale with two couples circling the stage locked in a passionate waltz. Perhaps Chloe was right, and it is all about sex, after all.
(P.S. Don’t rush out too quickly for wine in the interval or you’ll miss the dancing butler, and that would be a terrible mistake.)
Arcadia will be playing at the Oxford Playhouse until Saturday 19th October. Tickets are available here
