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the complete review - drama

Arcadia

by
Tom Stoppard

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

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Our Assessment:

A+ : a virtuoso performance, as entertaining on the page as on the stage

See our review for fuller assessment.

  Review Consensus:

  All admire Stoppard's erudition, wordplay, and clever and intricate plotting, but most voice concern about there being too much intellectual preening on Stoppard's part. Many had (or claim to have had) difficulties understanding aspects of the play.


  From the Reviews:

• "Tom Stoppard's Arcadia is that rare thing, a toothsome entertainment that also thrills us with a dozen strange thoughts before bedtime. (...) The play is -- if this synopsis leaves any doubt -- curious, sophisticated and killingly funny." - Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard
  
  
• "Arcadia unfolds in that wonderland of mirth. But just utter the name of a minor character -- Plautus the tortoise -- and the Roman playwright sidles in dressed as Lewis Carroll, carrying a bundle of wistful grief beneath the chuckling. Like no one else writing today, Stoppard knows how to make us smile and how to wipe it off our chops." - Simon Schama, Financial Times
  
  
• "Art and science, man and nature, predictability and unpredictability, romanticism and classicism, intellect and passion: Stoppard lines up supposed opposites and shows how they collide and overlap. The audience, given the privilege of cheating time, is able to piece together patterns in a way the characters cannot achieve. We see the reach of intellectual endeavour curtailed by the time or place of birth, but we also see the baton passed on. This is immensely poignant, as is the one constant in both periods: the unfathomable factor of sudden, unexpected love." - Sarah Hemming, Financial Times
  
  
• "The play is a fantastically ingenious construct, but it lacks a strong internal dynamic, and Wood's production, explanatory rather than emotional, makes you aware of the lack of narrative propulsion." - Michael Billington, The Guardian
  
  
• "Enchanting is not the word that would immediately spring to mind when describing a play that deals with fractal geometry, iterated algorithms, chaos theory and the second law of thermodynamics, but it is a perfect fit for Tom Stoppard's astonishing 1993 play, which is as beautiful as it is brilliant. This is one Stoppard drama that you don't have to be Einstein to understand -- you can feel it as well as think it. (...) Breathtaking, exhilarating and deeply satisfying." - Lyn Gardner, The Guardian
  
  
• "Tom Stoppard's 1993 play gets richer with each viewing (...) What makes the play both moving and intriguing is that one group of characters seeks to plot the future while the other tries to reconstruct the past." - Michael Billington, The Guardian
  
  
• "I've never resolved whether Stoppard is too clever for me or just too clever for himself, but it's nothing but joy to let his propositions roll around the theatre. Every line has a charge and a new meaning, every scene a question. (...) I still can't decide what the play wants to be about: but an evening that gives such pure uncomplicated pleasure on so many complicated matters is a rarity and a cause for general rejoicing." - Michael Coveney, The Independent
  
  
• "Arcadia's plots may leave the play with more characters than it can comfortably handle, but the main ones describe an elegant arabesque worthy of Mandelbrot himself." - Tim Appelo, The Nation
  
  
• "Arcadia is a highly literate, ingenious and intelligent theatrical entertainment, probably Stoppard's most accomplished play. But while one must respect the playwright's wit and erudition, it strikes me as the work of a brilliant impersonator rather than a dramatist with his own authentic voice. The play smells more of the lamp than of the musk of human experience." - Robert Brustein, The New Republic
  
  
• "(L)ike the realization of a dream deferred in which everything we hope for from the theater is in one three-hour experience exhilaratingly made flesh." - Matt Wolf, The New York Times
  
  
• "Arcadia has been heralded as some kind of rebirth for Stoppard. But he has never really gone away (.....) In Arcadia he doesn't change tack, but in a general sense, picks up from where he left off." - Michael Coveney, The Observer
  
  
• "Tom Stoppard's most brilliant and brainy play (...) is a literary puzzle interweaving so many themes (not to mention love affairs) that it threatens to overwhelm the ordinary brain" - Emma John, The Observer
  
  
• "Arcadia deserves a tip of the hat from every rationalist who has fumed at Hollywood's two-dimensional scientific noncharacters, such as the chaos theorist Ian Malcolm, who stumbles through Jurassic Park. The verbal virtuosity in Arcadia rests on a respectful, even sympathetic, examination of the way modern science looks at the world." - Tim Beardsley, Scientific American
  
  
• "Arcadia offers us the terrifying prospect of our most intelligent and referential dramatist finally vanishing up his own brilliance: it is in the end a play about everything and nothing, in which knowledge is all and caring is nil." - Sheridan Morley, The Spectator
  
  
• "Stoppard’s verbal frivolities are a delight. (...) If the West End is serious about serious plays then this visually stunning and hilariously funny show -- perhaps the wittiest drama written since Wilde was jailed -- should run and run." - Lloyd Evans, The Spectator
  
  
• "Arcadia isn’t exactly a chilly play, but it’s one where the ideas are moving, rather than the people. It’s a doleful comedy about time’s arrow, whose consolatory note is, paradoxically, reprise. "You seem quite sentimental over geometry," Bernard charges Hannah. Arcadia shows you why being sentimental over geometry might not be as silly as it sounds." - Sam Leith, Sunday Times
  
  
• "Richard Baron's production lacks real emotional or psychological resonance. The impression it leaves is of a play that is sparklingly clever, but quite bloodless." - Mark Brown, The Telegraph
  
  
• "Comically and poignantly, Stoppard shows how easy it is for the present to misinterpret the past, even as the play depicts the way the past shapes our future. Beyond the jokes and the intellectual joie de vivre, Arcadia cuts deep." - Charles Spencer, The Telegraph
  
  
• "With Arcadia, (Stoppard) has fabricated a work as simple as a perfect cube and as complex as the physics of a breaking wave. Or make that the physics of the turbulent air in a room where many people are clapping." - Brad Leithauser, Time
  
  
• "I know of few serious plays that are as funny as Arcadia, and even fewer funny plays that are as serious." - Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal
  
  
• "Stoppard's wit and erudition are as impressive as ever. (...) But his facility undermines him here. He does too much too well, and the result is that he does nothing wonderfully. For all its surface brilliance, Arcadia lacks passion and urgency." - Lloyd Rose, The Washington Post
  
  
• "If there were a speed limit on ideas, Tom Stoppard's Arcadia would have had its license permanently revoked. The focus of this scintillating comedy ricochets at breakneck speed from chaos theory to Byron's love life to landscape gardening, by way of iterated algorithms, the second law of thermodynamics, the population growth rates of goldfish and similar arcana -- and yet the British playwright delivers a play that's intensely poignant as well as frequently hilarious." - Celia Wren, The Washington Post

Please note and bear in mind that reviews of dramas generally refer to specific performances rather than to the written work itself. (Note also that complete review's reviews refer specifically to the written text.)

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

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The complete review's Review:

       Mr.Stoppard has written many fine and clever plays, but perhaps none is finer than this one. Switching back and forth between the present and the 19th century, he unfolds a marvelous story that addresses major questions of art, science, and history -- and how they intersect. The story itself is a poignant one, and an entertaining and amusing one as well, as Stoppard mixes elements again and again to reinforce his many points. The characters are rich and varied, and it all fits together perfectly. The science may seem heady, but it is really straightforward, and though it does take some effort to follow the many threads it is more than worthwhile.
       The play is set, in its entirety, in a single room, overlooking a garden, at an English estate, Sidley Park. Scenes alternate between the 20th century and the 19th, until they finally converge at the end. In one period -- 1809 to 1812 -- it is the residence of Lord and Lady Croom, young Lady Thomasina Coverly (a young teen) and her tutor, Septimus Hodge, among others. In the other -- the present -- an author, Hannah Jarvis, a scholar, Bernard Nightingale, and the scientist (and one of the children of the house) Valentine are the main figures. Objects -- letters, notebooks, furniture -- appear in both, bridging time. As does a tortoise.
       Brilliant but innocent young Thomasina is a mathematical prodigy, understanding and illustrating to her tutor the notion of entropy (everything tends towards disorder, i.e. decay) and fractal/chaos theory. As a girl, her talent goes largely unrecognized, though her tutor realizes that she is capable of remarkable things.
       Thomasina is also growing into womanhood, a source of tension that rises as the play proceeds. Septimus is a natural object for her affections, but he meanwhile is involved in another affair. Adding to the complexity an unseen Byron, who went to university with Septimus, visits Sidley Park.
       The confusion of who did what (and, in some cases, to whom) work to great comedic and dramatic effect. Much of the fun comes from the alternate scenes in the present, as these figures try to understand from the few clues left what exactly happened in the past. Bernard is trying to prove that Byron was involved in a duel with poet in residence Ezra Chater, explaining Byron's hitherto unexplained two-year absence from England. Hannah becomes obsessed with a mysterious hermit who lived on the property (and, to her great satisfaction, manages to prove Bernard mistaken).
       The puzzles solve themselves, and even Thomasina's accomplishments are uncovered and acknowledged. Stoppard ties up the threads in neat fashion, interweaving them in his complex, elegant fabric.
       The play works on many levels -- surprisingly, it is successful on each. Stoppard's understanding (and clear presentation) of questions of science, art, history, and even gardening serve him well, but it is the richly drawn characters (and their bright, sharp dialogue) that makes Arcadia superb drama.

       Very highly recommended indeed.

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Links:

• Faber publicity page
• Arcadia site at UCCB, with lots of links
• Arcadia page, from Eden Prairie High School -- useful and comprehensive
• The Arcadia Archive - recommended
• The Arcadia Players production
• the hypocrites production
• Knox College Theatre production
• USAO Drama Department production
• The Wilma Theater production
• Arcadia Study Guide
• Is Tom Stoppard's Arcadia the greatest play of our age ? by Johann Hari in The Independent
• Stoppard's Arcadia stands the test of time by A.A.Gill in the Sunday Times
• Arcadia as part of the UPenn Reading Project
• Chaos, Fractals, and Arcadia: "an animated description of some of the mathematical ideas lurking in the background of Tom Stoppard's play Arcadia"
• Essay on the science of Arcadia by John David Stone
• An Exploration of Tom Stoppard’s Use of Humour in Arcadia by Iain Morrison
• Discussion at the Constant Reader

• AMS
• BBC (1)
• BBC (2)
• BBC (3)
• BooksILoved.com
• Daily Information
• Evening Standard
• Financial Times (1)
• Financial Times (2)
• The Guardian (1)
• The Guardian (2)
• The Guardian (3)
• The Independent
• Independent on Sunday (scroll down for review)
• John's Book Pages
• KDHX
• Mathematical Fiction
• MetroActive
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
• The Observer (1)
• The Observer (2)
• Oxford Times
• Princeton Packet
• The Spectator
• Sunday Times
• The Telegraph (1)
• The Telegraph (2)
• Wall Street Journal
• The Washington Post (1)
• The Washington Post (2)
• The Washington Times

• The complete review's Tom Stoppard page
• The stagecraft of Tom Stoppard -- very good general site
• Profile in Salon
• An Overview of Tom Stoppard's Career at CurtainUp

• The Coast of Utopia:
  • Part I - Voyage
  • Part II - Shipwreck
  • Part III - Salvage
• Enter a Free Man
• Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
• Hapgood
• The Invention of Love
• Jumpers
• Night and Day
• Professional Foul
• The Real Thing
• Rock 'n' Roll

• The Cambridge Companion to Tom Stoppard, ed. Katherine E. Kelly
• Conversations with Stoppard (with Mel Gussow)
• Ira Nadel's Double Act (also: Tom Stoppard: A Life)
• John Fleming's Stoppard's Theatre

• See Index of Drama under review

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About the Author:

       British dramatist Tom Stoppard, born in 1937, is author of such notable plays as Arcadia and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

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© 1999-2009 the complete review

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