by Tom Stoppard
directed by Bethne Crisafulli

Venue: Hackett Hall, Draper St, Floreat

Time: 8:00 PM 

Information:

In Arcadia, Tom Stoppard delivers a play chock full of ideas and presents his audiences with an intellectual challenge unlike almost any other they are ever likely to encounter.  While enormously entertaining at one level, much of the attraction of this piece has been the post-performance clash of opinions it habitually engenders on how - and if - this complex package fits together.

The play is set in two time periods, the early nineteenth century and the present, in the same room in an English Estate, Sidley Park.  As the play opens, we meet Thomasina, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl who struggles with her algebra and geometry under the watchful eye of her tutor, Septimus Hodge.  But Thomasina is not your typical mathematics student; as becomes clear as the play unfolds.  She is a prodigy who not only questions the very foundations of her mathematical subjects, but also sets about to change the direction of countless centuries of mathematical thought.  In the process, she invents "Thomasina's geometry of irregular forms" (fractal geometry, as we now know it), discovers the second law of thermodynamics, and lays the foundation for modern “chaos theory”.  The estate is awash with romantic liaisons and couplings; important and unimportant poets are paying visits; and a radical change in the landscaping is discussed.

In the modern period, we meet Valentine, a contemporary mathematician who is attempting to understand the rise and fall of grouse populations using iteration.  As luck would have it, Valentine is heir to Sidley Park and part of his inheritance is a complete set of game books that go back to Thomasina's time.  These books detail the precise number of grouse shot at the estate each year.  Gradually, he becomes aware of some of the old mysteries surrounding Sidley Park, including Thomasina's discoveries. 

We also meet two competing historians: Hannah Jarvis, who writes about history, and Bernard Nightingale who teaches it.  The two are intoxicated by the possibility that the English poet George Byron was involved in a sexual peccadillo at Sidley Park, and their investigation of that provides the dramatic tension of a mystery being unravelled. 

The result is a unique series of scenes that hop back and forth between the early nineteenth century and the present.  Mathematics is not the only theme of this play, of course, but the ideas of regular versus irregular geometry, or chaos versus order seem to pervade all of the other events occurring at Sidley Park.  We are thrust into a debate about emerging British landscape styles featuring the orderly classical style versus the irregular, “picturesque” style.  Hannah methodically proceeds to uncover Sidley Park's secrets, in stark contrast to her nemesis, Bernard, who jumps from one theory to another with reckless abandon.  Indeed, the entire play pits the rationalism of Newton against the romanticism of Byron.

Heavy stuff, you may say!  But Stoppard's witty and elegant writing makes this eminently palatable; and his playfulness with language makes it charming.  It is thoroughly enjoyable even for those who don’t give a second thought to the thematic undercurrents.

Of all of his plays, Stoppard believes that the story of Arcadia works best.  He had a lot of time to work on the play, so he was able to manipulate the material to make things intersect properly.  He wrote Arcadia because he stubbed his toe against an area of science that really interested him, chaos theory.  The theory involves using non-linear equations to get unpredictable results, and it suggested itself to him as an interesting and powerful metaphor for human behaviour.  He began his research of the play with James Gleick's book Chaos, although he believes that something must have pointed him in that direction.

At the same time that he was reading Chaos, Stoppard was also thinking about romanticism and the Enlightenment as opposites in style, taste, temperament, and art.  He wanted to create a play showing the way people look at poetry, painting and gardening while distinguishing between the classical periods and the romantic revolution.  Stoppard believed that one could divide people into classical and romantic temperaments.  People with classical temperaments have a romantic side always trying to get out, while people with a romantic temperament have a classical side also trying to escape.

Though Stoppard admits that in Arcadia he was thinking about chaos theory and the differences between romanticism and the Enlightenment, he does not believe that anything can be found in the play that directly reflects these ideas.  In fact, he claims that any references in any of his plays to anything are pure coincidence.

Tickets: $14 adult, $12 concession

Bookings: 0415 777 173