Stage | The Guardian: When Tom Stoppard was asked what this play was about, just as it streaked its meteoric path from London to New York in the 1990s, he called it a drama of romance, mathematics, landscape gardening and Byron. It doesn’t quite cover it. Often regarded as his finest, Arcadia is about life, the universe and everything, to borrow a phrase.
2 comments:
This was an interesting read, especially considering that we open our own version of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia later this week. I wasn’t aware that it was set across different times, and that will certainly add an interesting dynamic to the play. I’m really curious to see how the creative teams portray the time change on the set and with lighting and sound elements. It’s also been awesome to watch our production come together in the Helen Wayne Rauh Studio Theatre, as I was able to work on loading in both the lighting and scenic elements. The description of the London set turning having some kind of cosmic element is really fascinating to me. I wonder how that was incorporated into the set at the Old Vic, as the whole set is being described as having a slow, almost imperceptible revolve. I imagine that means slow rotation, but if so, I would be curious to see how the set changes with time.
The idea of viewing a singular space through time reminds me of a comic I once read titled “Here” which has been recently turned into a film. Viewing different interactions and relationships through the lens of the space they are in is definitely a through line in stories like these. I find the differences of tone from the past to the present to be an interesting addition to the story as opposed to distracting from each story. It helps the audience to see the past through the lens of the present and feel connected to the researchers as we experience the story of the past with them. I find that moments of comedy can help to balance out serious moments in media, like in the movie Get Out where there are side story breaks to follow the progress or the quirky side character.
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