Arcadia A Play

by Stoppard, Tom

• ISBN13: 9780571169344
• ISBN10: 0571169341
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-09-24
• Publisher: VHPS

Summary

Arcadiatakes us back and forth between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, ranging over the nature of truth and time, the difference between the Classical and the Romantic temperament, and the disruptive influence of sex on our orbits in life. Focusing on the mysteries--romantic, scientific, literary--that engage the minds and hearts of characters whose passions and lives intersect across scientific planes and centuries, it is "Stoppard's richest, most ravishing comedy to date, a play of wit, intellect, language, brio and . . . emotion. It's like a dream of levitation: you're instantaneously aloft, soaring, banking, doing loop-the-loops and then, when you think you're about to plummet to earth, swooping to a gentle touchdown of not easily described sweetness and sorrow . . . Exhilarating" (Vincent Canby,The New York Times). Tom Stoppard'sother work includesRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead(Tony Award),Jumpers,Travesties(Tony Award),Night and Day,After Margritte,The Real Thing(Tony Award),Enter a Free Man,Hapgood,Arcadia(Evening StandardAward, The Oliver Award and the Critics Award),DallianceandUndiscovered Country,Indian Ink(a stage adaptation of his own play, In the Native State) andThe Invention of Love. His radio plays includeThe Dissolution of Dominic Boot,'M' is for Moon Among Other Things,If You're Glad I'll Be Frank,Albert's Bridge(Italia Prize),Where Are They Now?,Artist Descending A Staircase,The Dog It Was That DiedandIn the Native State(Sony Award). His work for television includesProfessional Foul(Bafta Award, Broadcasting Press Guild Award). His film credits includeRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Deadwhich he also directed (winner of the Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival). In a large country house in Derbyshire in April 1809 sit Lady Thomasina Coverly, aged thirteen, and her tutor, Septimus Hodge. Through the window may be seen some of the "500 acres inclusive of lake" where Capability Brown's idealized landscape is about to give way to the "picturesque" Gothic style: "everything but vampires," as the garden historian Hannah Jarvis remarks to Bernard Nightingale when they stand in the same room 180 years later. Bernard has arrived to uncover the scandal which is said to have taken place when Lord Byron stayed at Sidley Park. Arcadiais a brilliantly inventive play that moves back and forth between centuries, populated by a varied and vastly entertaining cast of characters who discuss such topics as the nature of truth and time, the difference between the classical and the romantic temperament, and the disruptive influence of sex on our orbits in lifeaccording to the author, "the attraction which Newton left out." Arcadiais a brilliantly inventive play that moves back and forth between centuries, populated by a varied and vastly entertaining cast of characters who discuss such topics as the nature of truth and time, the difference between the classical and the romantic temperament, and the disruptive influence of sex on our orbits in lifeaccording to the author, "the attraction which Newton left out."

Author Biography

Tom Stoppard's other work includes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tony Award), Jumpers, Travesties (Tony Award), Night and Day, After Margritte, The Real Thing (Tony Award), Enter a Free Man, Hapgood, Arcadia (Evening Standard Award, The Oliver Award and the Critics Award), Dalliance and Undiscovered Country, Indian Ink (a stage adaptation of his own play, In the Native State) and The Invention of Love.

His radio plays include The Dissolution of Dominic Boot, 'M' is for Moon Among Other Things, If You're Glad I'll Be Frank, Albert's Bridge (Italia Prize), Where Are They Now?, Artist Descending A Staircase, The Dog It Was That Died and In the Native State (Sony Award).

His work for television includes Professional Foul (Bafta Award, Broadcasting Press Guild Award). His film credits include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead which he also directed (winner of the Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival).

Table of Contents

"There's no doubt about it. 'Arcadia' is Tom Stoppard's richest, most ravishing comedy to date, a play of wit, intellect, language, brio and ... emotion. It's like a dream of levitation: you're instantaneously aloft, soaring, banking, doing loop-the-loops and then, when you think you're about to plummet to earth, swooping to a gentle touchdown of not easily described sweetness and sorrow."
--Vincent Canby, The New York Times