The triumphant return of Sir Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia serves as a fitting eulogy for the late Czech playwright. Carrie Cracknell’s adaptation at the Old Vic does Stoppard justice, delivering an excellent piece of theatre.
Arcadia boasts a complex narrative, with two separate storylines playfully bouncing off one another as the plot develops. Everything from horticulture to thermodynamics is discussed during the nearly three‑hour‑long show, somehow managing to keep the audience riveted. I have never been so interested in calculus in my life. One stately home, two narratives set two hundred years apart: love and lust and the pursuit of algebraic genius in the shadow of Lord Byron in the past; a group of academics scrambling with facts, trying to piece together the history of the house and its occupants, in the present. The idea that genius can and should be rediscovered, reused and reworked is fitting for the man whose most famous play is a retelling of Hamlet.
While earlier adaptations included A‑listers such as Bill Nighy and Harriet Walter, this production holds its own, bringing to life the interlinking characters of Arcadia. Seamus Dillane plays a believable, Byronesque scholar, Septimus; Fiona Button as the Lady of the manor peppers the play with humour; and Isis Hainsworth shines as Thomasina. If there is a flaw in the play, I would say Prasanna Puwanarajah’s Nightingale is more unlikeable than funny. Scenes where Nightingale is supposed to come across as confident and possibly charming felt awkward and vaguely threatening to the female characters. But then, the character is not supposed to be overly likeable.
The period and modern‑day changeovers generally feel seamless and are never confusing, even by the crescendo of the second act, where both sets of characters are on stage together, with the contemporary actors all wearing period clothing. The in‑the‑round setting of the Old Vic gives the play an intimate feel and pairs well with the very Galilean lights above. The round, spherical stage gives a quiet nod to the great scientists being discussed throughout the play, as well as mirroring the cyclical nature of the overlapping plot.
Stoppard’s voice permeates through all the characters, which is both a good and a bad thing. At times I felt I was listening to a monologue by the late, great playwright, but for the most part the dialogue is intelligent, natural‑sounding and enjoyable.
Despite the play’s reputation, the complexity of the story and its many moving parts could spell disaster for a director less in control of her project. Cracknell delivers superbly on Stoppard’s classic. This Arcadia adaptation will run until late March 2026.
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