Arcadia (play)

The action takes place in the same room in the English country house Sidley Park in Derbyshire alternately in 1809-1812 and in the nineties of the XX century. Researches of two modern scientists, their relations are intertwined with the lives of those who lived in the same house 180 years earlier.

1809-1812

• Thomasina Coverly : in 1809, she was 13 years old, the daughter of Lord and Lady Crum.
• Septimus Hodge : 22-year-old home teacher, Thomasina’s mentor, classmate and friend of Byron (Lord Byron visits the estate, but doesn’t appear on stage, but is of great importance in the development of the action).
• Jellaby : Butler in Sidley Park.
• Ezra Chater : mediocre poet, 31 years old, guest of the Lord and Lady Crum.
• Mrs. Chater : Chater’s wife doesn’t appear on stage, but her frivolous behavior causes a series of conflicts
• Richard Noakes : Lady Croom Landscape Architect Over the course of the play, he works on remaking a classic, Arcadian-like landscape of Sidley Park into a fashionable Gothic park.
• Lady Krum : mother of Thomasina, about 35 years old, imperious mistress of the estate. The second lady Crum, Chloe's mother, does not appear on stage in the part of the action that relates to the present.
• Captain Bryce : Royal Navy officer, brother of Lady Croom, mother of Thomasine. In love with Mrs. Chater. Together with the Chaters leaves for the West Indies . Marries Mrs. Chater after the death of her husband
• Augustus Coverly : Thomasina's younger brother, appears in several scenes. The role of Augustus and Gus, brother of Chloe, is played by the same actor.

Our days

• Hannah Jarvis : author of the popular book on Byron's mistress Lady Carolina Lam , about forty years old. Trying to find information about the hermit of Sidley Park, who lived in a hut at the beginning of the XIX century.
• Chloe Coverly : 18 years old, daughter of modern Lady Croom.
• Bernard Nightingale (in the Russian version - Salloway): professor. Hopes to bring Hannah to work on her theory of Byron's unknown duel. Ignores the search for further evidence of his theories, and, hoping that he will become the author of the sensation, announces on TV that Byron killed Ezra Chater in a duel. At the end of the play, Hannah proves him wrong - much to his chagrin.
• Valentine Coverly : mathematician, graduate student. Chloe's older brother. Having studied ancient documents, he comes to the conclusion about the genius of Thomasina.
• Gus Coverly : Chloe and Valentine's younger brother, fifteen. Not talking from the age of five. Gus helps discover some important facts from the past and helps connect key points in the play. Gus and Augustus is played by one actor.

Action One

Scene One

April 10, 1809, the living room of Sidley Park. There is a lesson from the daughter of the owners of the Thomasina estate with her teacher Septimus Hodge, a friend of Byron , who is visiting Sidley Park at this time. Thomasina accidentally heard about Mrs. Chater’s love affair the day before and was trying to find out from Hodge the meaning of the expression “carnal hugs”. Hodge (who met Mrs. Chater in the belvedere), trying to distract Thomasina, gives her the task to prove Fermat’s Great Theorem , and plunges into reading Eros Chater’s book “The Eros Couch”. Thomasina talks about a spoon of jam in rice pudding, which brings her to the topic of determinism . Classes are interrupted with the advent of Ezra Chater, intending to challenge Septimus Hodge, who was convicted of Mrs. Chater. Septimus relieves the situation by extolling The Couch of Eros, Chater is flattered, forgets about the duel and makes an inscription on a copy of Hodge’s book. Chater does not realize that Septimus criticized his previous book, The Maid of Turkey . The landscape architect Noux appears, a little later - Captain Bryce and Lady Croom. Everyone takes part in the discussion of the redevelopment of the estate garden proposed by Noakes. Thomasina draws on one of the sketches of a hermit at a secluded “Hermitage” hut, similar to John the Baptist , and hands Hodge a note from Mrs. Chater.

Scene Two

The action is postponed today. Professor Bernard Nightingale comes to the estate. Bernard believes that Byron in 1809 killed Ezra Chater in a duel. He meets with Hannah Jarvis, a historical researcher at the estate. Bernard’s goal is to find confirmation of his hypothesis; he counts on Hannah’s help, but hides his real name, as he criticized the press in the press about her Carolina Lam . Ultimately, Bernard admits that he is the same Professor Nightingale - the author of the negative review of the book of Hannah. However, Hannah agrees to help him find materials. Bernard notes that the name of the poet Chater is not mentioned after 1809, the only other famous Ezra Chater is a botanist.

Scene Three

April 11, 1809. Thomasina translates from Latin, but deviates from the topic of the lesson and reports that she made a discovery: nature can be described using mathematical equations. Septimus is trying to continue the lesson, but Thomasina regrets the loss of the Alexandria Library , and the knowledge contained in her books. Septimus objectes to her not to mourn the fact that ultimately she will undoubtedly be regained. Classes were again interrupted by the appearance of Chater: at breakfast, he learned from Byron that it was Septimus who wrote a negative review of his book. Chater challenges Septimus to a duel, Captain Bryce becomes the poet's second.

Scene Four

The action is returning today. Hannah reads Valentine's account of Thomasina, made on the sidelines of a textbook, about the discovery of "The latest geometry of irregular shapes by Thomasina Coverly," with which you can describe all natural phenomena. Valentine concludes that Thomasina, ahead of her time, used the iteration method, and in his own research he also uses it.

Action Two

Scene Five

Bernard sets out to Hannah, Valentine and Chloe his version of the duel of Byron and Chater. Hannah and Valentine doubt the veracity of his conclusions. Bernard is indignant, he leaves, determined to publicize his discovery and create a sensation. Meanwhile, Hannah finds that the hermit of Sidley Park, who was obsessed with mathematical calculations and predicted in the future "a world without life and light," is actually a home teacher Septimus Hodge.

Scene Six

It turns out that the duel of Chater and Hodge did not happen. Spouses Chater hastily departed for the West Indies with Captain Bryce. Ezra Chater goes on an expedition as a nerd. The chaters left Sidley Park after Lady Croom caught Mrs. Chater in Byron's room at night. Byron also leaves the estate. Septimus meets Lady Croom. She read his two letters written before the alleged duel, Septimus left them in case he was killed by Chater. One letter, a love letter, addressed to Lady Croom, the second to Thomasina about her reasoning about a spoonful of jam in rice pudding. Lady Croom makes Septimus a date.

Scene Seven

The action takes place simultaneously in 1812 and in our time. On the stage there are characters from two centuries, their replicas are mixed, in addition, the characters from our days are dressed in costumes of the XIX century. Chloe reads a newspaper article on the Bernard hypothesis. What follows is her dialogue on determinism with Valentine, which continues the earlier conversation between Septimus and Thomasina. In his calculations on a computer, Valentine tries the Thomasina method. Valentine recalls that at the beginning of the 19th century an accident occurred on the estate: on the eve of his seventeenth birthday, a girl died in the fire. Only now he realizes that it was Thomasina.

The name of the play and its leitmotif are short for the original: Et in Arcadia ego ^[2] (Arcadia is a country of idyllic happiness). The phrase is most often interpreted as a reminder of the inevitability of death. It is explained as “I [death] am also in Arcadia” or “And (even) in Arcadia I [death] (exist)”, however its meaning is still unclear and is the subject of debate. The most famous personification of this phrase in the paintings of Nicolas Poussin from the life of Arcadian shepherds. According to E. Panofsky , they are an understanding of the finiteness of being, which even the inhabitants of Arcadia have to put up with - the land of eternal bliss ^[3] .

When discussing the views of her park, Lady Croom uses the phrase meaning "here I am in Arcadia." Thomasina replies: “Yes, mother, if you had this”, hinting that Lady Croom is mistaken. Although the play itself contains only brief references to its title, the phrase portends the fate of two main characters: the early death of Thomasina and the seclusion of Septimus ^[2] . Initially, Stoppard wanted to make this connection more explicit by putting the full version of the phrase in the title, but, for commercial reasons, left the abbreviated name ^[2] .

More clearly, the title of the play refers to the pastoral as ideal nature: one of the themes of the play is the juxtaposition of natural naturalness and the correct artificial geometric shape. So, landscape architect Noux inclines Lady Croom to make changes to the regular park and turn it into a landscape park.

“Arcadia” is one of Stoppard’s “mature” dramas, in which the tonality of action changes from “comic” to “serious”. Comedy elements are now used to defuse, relieve the growing dramatic tension. In Stoppard’s plays of the 1980s and early 1990s, a new motive also appears - cognition. The topics that are raised in them - “divine, time and space, the definition of reality and“ everyone ”, peace and war, freedom and lack of freedom, national identity, as well as love, woman, family, creativity” ^[4] - taking into account experience, acquired by the author on the path of life. For "Arcadia" is also characteristic (as well as for other "mature" Stoppard's plays) the development of ideas and images outlined in earlier works - "allusions to own works" (Belyaeva) ^[5] .

The premiere of "Arcadia" was held at the Royal National Theater of Great Britain on April 13, 1993. Roles performed by:

• Rufus Sewell - Septimus Hodge
• Felicity Kendall - Hannah Jarvis
• Bill Nyei - Bernard Nightingale
• Emma Fielding - Thomasina Coverley
• Harriet Walter - Lady Crum
• Samuel West - Valentine Coverley

Awards

• 1994 - Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play

Nominations

• 1995 - Drama Desk for Outstanding Play
• 1995 - Tony in the nomination "Best Play"

• Hermitage

• Belyaev V.E. Poetics and method of stage dramaturgy by Tom Stoppard. - Moscow: Econ-inform, 2011.

• Chaos, Fractals, and Arcadia , Chaos, Fractals, and Arcadia. Robert L. Devaney ( Boston University )