Arcadia
Tom Stoppard
Widely considered Stoppard’s masterpiece, Arcadia toggles between 1809 and the present day at Sidley Park, an English country estate. In the past, a precocious student and her tutor explore mathematics and poetry; in the present, researchers attempt to reconstruct those events. The play elegantly weaves together chaos theory, landscape gardening, thermodynamics, and Romanticism. As the timelines eventually converge, the play reflects on the elusiveness of historical truth and the heat death of the universe. It is a profound, heartbreaking, and intellectually dazzling work that balances rigorous scientific inquiry with a deeply moving human story about the passage of time.
Septimus Hodge: A brilliant tutor in 1809 who navigates intellectual discovery and romantic scandals while eventually trying to solve his student’s complex mathematical theories. Thomasina Coverly: A precocious teenage genius in the 19th century who intuitively grasps modern concepts like chaos theory and thermodynamics long before their time. Hannah Jarvis: A modern-day author and researcher who meticulously pieced together the history of the estate, representing the persistence of intellectual curiosity across generations.
First Performance: 1993, at Lyttelton Theatre (National Theatre), London
Critical and commercial triumph; won the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Play.
Original Actors: Felicity Kendal, Bill Nighy, Rufus Sewell