Arcadia

Arcadia is a play by Tom Stoppard (1937-)[1]

The original text

The play is set in an English stately home at two different times - 1809 and 1993. Two characters are researching the history of the house, in particular the young girl who it seems discovered chaos theory 200 years before the "geniuses" at M.I.T. and Harvard. We are taken backwards and forward through time, discovering how events of the past are misinterpreted by the historians of the present.

The play first produced at the National Theatre in London, England, in 1993, directed by Trevor Nunn with Felicity Kendall, Harriet Walter, Bill Nighy and Rufus Sewell. It won the 1993 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play.

Published by Faber and Faber, 1993.

Performance history in South Africa

1993: The South African première of the play was presented by CAPAB from 2 to 16 October 1993 at the Nico Theatre directed by Roy Sargeant, starring Jennifer Sale (Thomasina Coverly), Edward Baker-Duly (Septimus Hodge), Neels Coetzee (Jellaby), Mark Graham (Ezra Chater), Jay Heale (Richard Noakes), Diane Wilson (Lady Croom), Anthony Bishop (Captain Edward Brice), Shirley Johnston (Hannah Jarvis), Jana van Niekerk (Chloë Coverly), Ralph Lawson (Bernard Nightingale), Tim Mahoney (Valentine Coverly), Brian Webber (Gus Coverly/Augustus Coverly). Decor by Keith Anderson, costumes by Fanie Steenkamp, lighting by John T. Baker. Piano music composer Michael Tuffin.

1994: Performed at the National Arts Festival in July, then transferred to the Nico Malan Theatre in Cape Town for a second run. Again directed by Roy Sargeant, with decor by Keith Anderson, costumes Fanie Steenkamp, lighting Bernard Hegarty, stage director Patrick Curtis, stage manager Glen Melville, assisted by Louwrens Fourie and Paul Smith. The cast included Nicole Franco, Stephen Jennings, Neels Coetzee, Anthony Bishop, Jay Heale, Diane Wilson, Patrick Lyster, Shirley Johnston, Jana van Niekerk, Ralph Lawson, Thomas Hall, Brian Webber.

1995: Produced at the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg from February to 11 March .]

Sources

Arcadia theatre programme, CAPAB, Cape Town, 1993.

Arcadia theatre programme, National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, 1994

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Stoppard

Fiona Chisholm. 1993. "Intriguing play went down a treat", Cape Times (copy of an undated review , held in the ESAT Archives).

"An Arcadia for Lovers of Drama" (review), Mail & Guardian, 8 July 1994

Return to

Return to A in Plays II Foreign Plays

Return to South_African_Theatre/Plays

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page