Arcadia

Reviewed by Vanessa Cate
A Noise Within
Through November 20

RECOMMENDED

“Septimus, what is carnal embrace?”

So begins Tom Stoppard’s 1993 masterpiece, Arcadia. Thomasina Coverly (Erika Soto) is a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, gifted in scientific and mathematical understanding and tutored by Septimus Hodge (Rafael Goldstein). Septimus is a genius in his own right, both in intellectual and more worldly matters. It is hardly a secret that he is a lover of many women, but none so ardently as Thomasina’s mother, Lady Croom (Abby Craden). At least that is his hope.

While events taking place in the 1800’s unfold, we also meet — in present time — the family descendants of the Coverlys. Living in the same romantic English house, Sidley Park, generations later, the modern Coverlys host two intellectuals:  Hannah Jarvis (Susan Angelo), a well-known author who is searching for the identity of an unknown hermit in the gardens of the 1800’s, and Bernard Nightingale (Freddy Douglas) who hopes to uncover some juicy intrigue about Lord Byron (who does have a presence in the story, but does not appear on stage).

So events unfold, in both past and present.

Arcadia is a play that is as much about science as it is about humanity, and it succeeds in both areas —the humor is sharp, the dialogue crisp, the language well-crafted. Indeed, it is where these two aspects intersect that the play truly excels to the point of the divine.

This play, however, is the sort of masterpiece that requires mastery of all its components to make it truly succeed. Geoff Elliot has directed a fine play, but omitted much of the human and sexual nuance which is imperative to making the script come alive. Also, while the play should end in a gorgeous overlap of both time periods, the finale here seems to have been intentionally broken up, in both the lighting (Jean-Yves Tessier) and the blocking, thus robbing us of the intellectual and emotional climax.

Soto is noticeably too old to play Thomasina, and there’s no perceptible change in her character as she transitions from a thirteen-year-old student to a seventeen-year-old young woman. Her feelings for Septimus are almost an afterthought, which is a shame. Goldstein, however, does his usual spectacular work, and every moment he is on stage is a delight, not only in terms of his personal performance but in terms of how much he gives to the other actors around him. The scenes taking place in the present suffer from the lack of him, and without appropriate tension or attraction between the characters, many of these present day scenes become something to wade through before we can gratefully return to the past ones. (Richy Storrs is an exception as the minor but scene-stealing Gus Coverly.) These shortcomings in performance and direction are exacerbated by the density and complex nature of the material which, lacking precision, may go over some audience members’ heads.  

Despite some missteps, Stoppard’s work, Goldstein’s brilliance, Leah Piehl’s fine costumes and Frederica Nascimento’s scenic design beg to be seen.

A Noise Within, 3352 E Foothill Blvd., Pasadena 91107; through November 20; For performance schedule visit www.anoisewithin.org; 626-356-3100 ext. 1; Running time Approximately 175 minutes including one 15 minute intermission