Arcadia

Publicity #1: Arcadia
Publication: Shoreham Herald
Publication Data: September 16 1999 issue – page 14
Text Header: “Race now on for hare and tortoise”
Text: Content

FINDING suitable props for Wick Theatre Company’s latest production is turning out to be quite a problem. In Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, not only does the action switch to and from the early 19th Century to the present day, requiring props to match each era, but a pet tortoise is also required to act as a link between past and present. As a real live one wouldn’t be practical, a hunt is on to find a realistic fake.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the final item on the list is a dead rabbit – yet another headache for a harassed props person.

If anyone thinks they may be able to help with either fake animal, telephone 01273 771244.

Arcadia runs from October 6 to 9 at the Barn Theatre Southwick.

Publicity #2: Arcadia
Publication: The Advertiser – Shoreham
Publication Data: September 29 1999 issue – page 4
Text Header: “Wick take on Tom’s superb time-slip tale”
Text: Content

WICK Theatre Company’s next production will be Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, the Oscar-winning writer of Shakespeare in Love, from October 6 to 9.

The play, which was a long-running success at the National Theatre, will be directed by Bob Ryder, who has established a strong reputation in the area for producing high-quality shows.

The action in the play is set in a stately home in the era of Jane Austen and also in the present day.

Time moves forwards and backwards and the events of 1800 unfold and also the efforts of modern investigators to unravel the mystery – often with the wrong results. In the process, the characters take us through a mixture of a detective story, high comedy and romance.

The cast of 12 actors is a combination of experience and new talent. Making her debut is Lucy Tickner, a 16-year-old Brighton actress, who has just returned from a summer spent with the National Youth Theatre in London. Lucy plays the central character of Thomasina, a teenager in 1800, who is able to make scientific discoveries 200 years ahead of her time.

Arcadia, at Southwick’s Barn Theatre, is the company’s entry for this year’s Brighton and Hove Arts Council’s 1999 Drama Festival.

Performances begin at 7.45pm and tickets are £5.00 and £4.50, with discounts available for schools and group bookings.

For tickets, phone the box office on 01273 597094.

Review #1: Arcadia
Publication: Shoreham Herald
Publication Data: October 14 1999 issue – page 18
Reviewer: – Stephen Critchett
Text Header: “Praiseworthy stab at pretentious”
Text: Content

THIS lavish production will delight fans of Stoppard’s work, but sadly will do little to win over any new converts. Acadia only became available for amateur performance earlier this year and Wick Theatre Company have ambitiously staged one of the first productions outside of London.

The action takes place in a stately home between the era of Jane Austen and the present day with the characters taking us through a mixture of romance, detective story, comedy and tear-jerker. A highly talented cast, brilliant set design and lively performances unfortunately were all wasted on a near three-hour trek through an overly complex and pretentious work, which would have had the most learned academic yearning to watch a particularly slow-paced East Enders episode.

Jostling

The plot was sometimes totally unfathomable as there were far too many ideas jostling for room in the play. In Arcadia, time moves forwards and backwards and the witty dialogue, although superbly delivered and injected with as much emotion as the performers as it would allow, became akin to undertaking a mental assault course. Stoppard’s tale aims to be so clever and impossibly witty that the viewer is made to feel embarrassed at their own lack of intellect for failing to comprehend it fully.

I admire the company for staging such a play. But it is a work which will mean a great deal to a select number of people and sadly not very much to the rest of us.

Review #2: Arcadia
Publication: Wick News
Publication Data: November 1999
Reviewer: Patrick Johnson
Text: Content

My mother was a woman of very few words, which, as far as I was concerned, was very good thing, as most of what she said to me was disparaging. She saw me, in general, as someone who, to quote from Rattigan’s French Without Tears, had idees as dessus de son gare. Put-downs such as ‘too clever by half’, ‘too big for your boots’, or ‘smarty pants’ winged my way. But her most effective weapon was a simple syllable – ‘hunh’. It spoke volumes.

When I first heard of the proposed production of Arcadia, of which I had heard rave reviews, I acquired a copy and read it through. Now I have not acquired my mothers gift for the terse and worse, but my immediate reaction was ‘hunh’! Tom, you’re too clever by half, you smarty pants, you!

I read the play at least three times more, with a little more comprehension seeping through each time, but I still found it full of problems. With such dense writing I found it hard to keep track of who was saying what, and going back to check broke my hold on whatever argument was frying my brain. In trying to absorb all the intellectual pyrotechnics I completely lost any sense of what was happening to these seriously intelligent people who wouldn’t stop talking. So I rather dismissed the play as a showy attempt to put several arcane textbooks on to the stage which had failed to breathe life into characters.

It was with a little surprise that I found myself succumbing to Rosemary’s blandishments when she suggested that I should do a review of the production. As you can imagine I was a little apprehensive as to how the evening would turn out, but let me say straight away that I enjoyed myself very much. Listening to people putting across the ideas and watching the development of their characters made the play come alive in a way I hadn’t really expected.
I liked the uncluttered set. It worked so well that I soon forgot about it which is what I think should happen. Similarly the lighting and sound effects kept the places in the background. The ‘working light’ effect for the scene changes was a good idea. We didn’t peer into the dark and wonder if someone would drop something or fall over in the dark. But, once the actors took their places, I felt the lights should have come straight up and the play could have carried on without another blackout. We knew they were ready and were impatient by the delay.
And the acting? I believed in all the characters: nobody gave the impression of just saying lines and the interplay between the cast made for a presentation of real people living their loves before us.

The downside? I had to work hard to hear what was being said by some of the cast, particularly when they were upstage. It is difficult for the ear to adjust from one volume to another. This is something that familiarity with the script can cover up but the audience doesn’t have that advantage. It also covers up the problems of pace. If people race through their speeches it may not be noticed if you know the play but the poor audience when faced with a poorly projected gabble of words is left floundering. For me, even with my slight knowledge of the play these problems of varying projection and pace detracted from what was otherwise a good production of a difficult play.