June 25, 2004

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Publication Date: Friday, June 25, 2004

'Arcadia' explores math, love

By Julie O'Shea

There is something rather Shakespearean about Tom Stoppard plays. Smart, witty and poetic, works by this award-winning playwright manage to make you feel as though you are witnessing theatrical genius, even if you can't always follow every word of dialogue.

"Arcadia," Stoppard's mystery-time-traveling-comedy-sex farce, is no exception.

The show, first produced in London in 1993, opened TheatreWorks' 35th season last weekend at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.

The cast in this production, under the direction of Robert Kelley and Vickie Rozell, gives us a nice balance of laughs and poignancy, letting the play's rich language drip like honey one moment, while reducing the audience to hysterics with delicious comedic timing in the next.

Set in the early 1800s and present-day England, "Arcadia" explores everything from complex mathematical theories to the mystery of a mad hermit to love's first kiss.

The play has momentum from the instant the lights go up on a grand room in the Sidley Park estate (breathtakingly designed by Duke Durfee). If you don't pay close attention, however, you could end up missing some of "Arcadia's" carefully placed humor.

Catching all the nuances of the dialogue is challenging, given that the production has a tendency to drag in some parts -- it clocks in at three hours -- and Stoppard's chaotic rush of ideas can make you dizzy. (In fact, Stoppard novices may wish to take a look at the playbill synopsis before the start of Act I to gain a better appreciation of what the show is trying to accomplish).

Still, there are many beautifully staged moments in the TheatreWorks production, particularly those which blend the present with the ghosts of the past.

At one end of the story is brilliant 13-year-old Thomasina (Alison Walla) and her sex-crazed tutor Septimus (Christopher Kelly), discussing Newtonian physics and chaos theory by candlelight in 1809. In the same room, nearly two centuries later, two stubborn scholars, Hannah and Bernard, (Jennifer Erin Roberts and J. Paul Boehmer) spar over the mysterious lives of the estate's past occupants.

Through the help of long-forgotten letters and drawings, Hannah and Bernard piece together differing stories about Thomasina, Septimus, a self-doubting poet (Mark A. Phillips) and Lord Byron, who is much discussed but never makes an appearance onstage.

For the most part, TheatreWorks has done a fabulous casting job -- Phillips gives us more than a few reasons to laugh at his tightly wound character and Boehmer's over-the-top dramatics are also amusing -- but there are a few stretches, including Walla as a lust-filled teenage girl (the actress looks to be in her late 20s.) Fortunately, this age blunder makes it less disturbing to watch Walla's Thomasina flirt with the much older Septimus.

It would have been nice to see this relationship develop, as Walla and Kelly have a startling chemistry. However, Stoppard seems to use his works as a way to get his points across, leaving little room for in-depth character analysis. Had he done so, "Arcadia" would have no doubt been a completely different play.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

Information

What: TheatreWorks presents "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard

Where: Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St.

When: Through July 11. Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. (no show July 6); Wednesdays through Fridays 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sundays 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (no show July 4, 2 p.m. only July 11.)

Cost: $20-$48

Call: 903-6000 or visit theatreworks.org

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