Arcadia, the Play

J putting the final touch on the tortoise shell

M and H inspecting the set

The set lit by a projected slide

Actors on stage before the start of the play.
Thomasina and her tutor Septimus

Thomasina and her tutor Septimus

Charactors from 19th century and present day all on stage in the last act.

This year I was involved in the Longwood Players' production of "Arcadia" as a scenic artist, just like what I did for last year's "Pygmalian". Of course I am not some sort of an "artist". This was all volunteer work, and the skills involved were just some kind of painting, on a large scale.

My friend J was the set designer for "Arcadia", a play by Tom Stoppard. J envisioned that the whole play happened on the back of a tortoise. This was because that a tortoise was referred to several times in the play. So H and I drew a gigantic tortoise shell on 6 3X6 panels and painted each plate of the shell as concentric hexagonals with three different shades of brown. It took us two afternoons. After the first day my legs became very sour from working low on the ground. On the second afternoon we blended the three shades of brown together so that the colors changed gradually. I learned how to do dry brush. Painting on such a large scale is just fun. I also helped M outlining the stones in the stone wall. They look good, don't they?

I was very excited to see the play last Friday. A lot of people came for the performance at the Cambridge YMCA despite of the big snow storm earlier that day. The tortoise shell was tilted on the stage, and on it were a table and several chairs. The play was a complicated one. It happened in the early 19th century and also present day, in a single room. J had to send us an email to explain it before we went so that we would have an idea of what to expect. Still it was quite hard to catch things because every line was important. Characters in this play were all very witty and they talked about the second law of thermodynamics etc. The story was about a young girl (13 years old) in the 19th century who loved science and poetry and dreamed about marrying Lord Byron The Poet, but she died from a fire on her 17th birthday. Decendents of her family in the present time try to figure out what had happened from all the records they can find and they piece together science and literature. The play had a sad ending. Audience left knowing that this girl was going to die that night after waltzed romantically with her tutor.

The following is J's summary of the play, written for our sake:

(for a more complete summary, check out:)
http://www.cherwell.oxon.sch.uk/arcadia/actshead.htm
http://www.sff.net/people/mberry/arcadia.htp

All of the action in this play takes place in a single room in a English country estate called Sidley Park. The play opens in 1809, and scenes alternate between 1809/1812 and the present. In the 1809/1812 scenes (the action jumps ahead three years between Act1 and Act2) a young girl Thomasina is being tutored in many subjects by Septimus. She is really a genius, though, and is fooling around with ideas of thermodynamics (the 2nd law figures prominently in the play) and fractal geometry (which of course hadn't been invented yet).

Meanwhile, Septimus is being called out for boinking the wife of another guest, Mr Chater, Mr Chater being encouraged in the duel by Captain Brice who is in love with Mrs. Chater. Septimus really is in love with the lady of the house, Thomasina's mother (Lady Croom), though, while his friend Lord Byron (the now-famous poet) is basically boinking everyone in sight.

So you're not confused, Mrs. Chater and Lord Byron never appear on stage.

The third plot line in the 19th century involves efforts by Lord Croom (opposed by Lady Croom) to tear up the pastoral grounds of the home in favor of a Romantic landscape, which involves a Holy mess made possible by a "new and improved" steam engine, brought to Sidley Park by the landscape artist, the obsequious Mr. Noakes. The Romantic landscape includes ruins, craggy rocks, and general gloom, along with a hermitage that becomes important in the present-day scenes.

In the present, three scholars are trying to reconstruct the events that occurred at Sidley Park back in 1809-1812. Hannah, an independent scholar (basically a gentleman scholar but she's female), is trying to determine who the hermit was who lived in the hermitage. Bernard, a flamboyant Byron scholar who (unbeknownst to Hannah) panned her last book [note that there is much in the play about the disdain academics have for independent scholars], is trying to prove a theory has has that Chater was killed in a duel, but with Byron, not Septimus, but he doesn't even have proof that Bryon was ever at Sidley Park.

Meanwhile, a Croom descendant, Valentine, is trying to come up with a mathematical model that describes the population flucuations of grouse on the estate over a century. His data comes from the estate's game books, which are a record of who shot what when. These game books are central to the resolution of Bernard's theories. Valentine's sister, Chloe, is not trying to prove anything but falls in love with Bernard.

The final character is Gus/Augustus, who is the brother to Thomasina (as Augustus in 1809/1812) and to Chloe and Val in the present day (where he is called Gus).

Note that Thomasina is 13 at the beginning of the play, and 16 at the end. The play ends the evening of her 17th birthday. That's important. Also, try to follow the fates of Septimus and Mr. Chater.

Language is critical to this play, so pay attention to the wordplay. for example, the beginning lines are a play on words involving the word "carnal" and its root meaning "of the flesh", as in meat, as in carnivore. Also, pay attention to the many parallels between the two time periods, especially lines spoken by characters in each period.

A final note, so you're not confused: in the final scene, characters from both periods are on stage at the same time, with the present-day characters dressing in 19th century clothes for a party. In this scene, Hannah discovers what happens to Mr. Chater by reading Lady Croom's diary, while Lady Croom is speaking the very same lines on stage. It's an amazing juxtaposition, but hard to catch if you're not looking for it.

Other things to watch for:

1. Septimus slipping his letters into a book that will be discovered 200 years later by the present-day scholars. (and note that he burns two of Byron's letters)

2. The drawing of Septimus with his tortoise, kept by Augustus late in the play and later revealed by his counterpart Gus.

3. Note how Lady Croom's description of the events that happen one night differ from the version given to Septimus by the butler.

Finally, there is too much in this play to catch everything, so just sit back and enjoy it!

-J

More on the play from J:

A major parallel in the play between 1809 and the present is the concept of academic review. In 1809 Septimus turns out to have panned Mr. Chater's two literary efforts, and ultimately it is for this, and not for boinking Mrs. Chater, that Septimus is challenged to a duel by Mr. Chater. In the present, Bernard panned Hannah's book but shows up at Sidley Park without knowing that Hannah is already there, so he tries to hide his true identity. Hannah gets over it, at least enough that she and Bernard help each other solve their respective mysteries.

One minor thing that I never understood until I asked Sarah: at one point Septimus is having Thomasina translate a difficult latin passage, which he then translates himself with ease. It's a passage from Shakespeare (leave it to Tom Stoppard to translate Shakespeare into Latin for a play), hence her anger when she realizes the true source.

Okay, I'll shut up now!

-J

M's addition to the explanation:

J promised not to send any more addenda, so I will:

The title of the play, "Arcadia", refers to a part of Greece that, according to legend, is sort of this idyllic pastoral haven.

The famous phrase about Arcadia that appears in the play is: "Et in Arcadia ego"
It appears, most notably, as the title of some well known painting of a bunch of shepards standing around a tomb.

Roughly translated it means either 'I, too, am in Arcadia' or 'Even I am in Arcadia'. The distinction matters because, in the former the idea is that the dead Shepard has made it to paradise. In the latter case, generally accepted as more likely, the idea is that Death (with
a capital 'D') appears even in Arcadia.

There is a bit of playfulness in the play about how to translate this phrase. The implications, though, you'll be able to figure out. There's death in the form of a duel, there's the death of the
landscape after the redesign, there's the death of academic theories, and there is the death of a bunch of people's ideals, all of which can be seen in the context of the title.

Okay, now I'll shut up too!

M