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Arcadia

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About this listen

Tom Stoppard's Arcadia merges science with human concerns and ideals, examining the universe's influence in our everyday lives and ultimate fates through relationship between past and present, order and disorder and the certainty of knowledge. Set in an English country house in the years 1809-1812 and 1989, the play examines the lives of two modern scholars and the house's current residents with the lives of those who lived there 180 years earlier.

An L.A. Theatre Works full cast performance featuring:

Kate Burton as Hannah

Mark Capri as Chater

Jennifer Dundas as Thomasina

Gregory Itzin as Bernard Nightingale

David Manis as Captain Brice

Christopher Neame as Noakes/Jellaby

Peter Paige as Valentine

Darren Richardson as Augustus

Kate Steele as Chloe

Serena Scott Thomas as Lady Croom

Douglas Weston as Septimus

Music composed and arranged by John Rubinstein.

Includes an interview with Steven Strogatz, the author of Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos and professor at the Cornell University School of Theoretical and Applied Mathematics.

Directed by John Rubinstein. Recorded at The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood, in December of 2008.

Arcadia is part of L.A. Theatre Works’ Relativity Series featuring science-themed plays. Major funding for the Relativity Series is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, bridging science and the arts in the modern world.

©2009 L.A. Theatre Works (P)2009 L.A. Theatre Works Drama & Plays European United States World Literature Theatre

Critic reviews

“Tom Stoppard’s richest, most ravishing comedy to date. A play of wit, intellect, language, brio and emotion,” and The Royal Institution of Great Britain calls it: “the best science book ever written.” ( )The New York Times)
All stars
Most relevant
Excellent but you need a copy of the written play to follow it, especially the last scene since the stage directions, which are not read outloud in this recording, play a crucial role, keeping that in mind it is a great play and very well performed.

Excellent

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There are some very good things about this recording. It's clear, entrances and exits are by and large well delineated. It makes sense, allowing for the complexity and farcical nature of the narrative. The fact that a significant character who never speaks may or may not be in the room is a problem for any audio adaptation.

It is unfortunate, however, that a very significant character bears the surname Nightingale. Pronounced in English English with almost equal stress on all 3 syllables, pronounced by these actors as a dactyl (NITE-n-gale) with the last two syllables swallowed. Consequently, every time the character is referred to, I wince, and that, and other pronunciation infelicities, makes this an unhappy listening experience. I suppose if you don't know it's wrong, it doesn't matter. Maybe calling General Powell COLL-INN, not colon, seems very wrong to American listeners.

US actors doing posh British accents

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I was a little reluctant to listen based on previous reviews about the accents of the American actors. I eventually bought it as I wanted to hear a dramatic performance and found it on the whole an enjoyable experience. You would have to be very picky to find the accents annoying so if you are doubtful like I was then go for it and don't be put off.

Engaging and entertaining.

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This recording is fine - the actors are just ok.
The play itself? Unsurpassed. It really needs to be watched rather than just listened to, but however you access it there is something magical to find. Literally, structurally, philosophically, scientifically, mathematically... In my opinion, the 20th Century gave us no better English language play.

Best play of the 20th Century

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Excellent play and most of the actors good but some of the accents a bit dodgy. The people playing Bernard and especially Chloe mispronounce Nightingale every time and their accents are wobbly. Chloe sounds a bit like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. the actors playing Hannah and Thomasina are very good.

OK

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