Math, sex, and a tortoise walk into a garden. Only one makes it out alive.
On a country estate in Derbyshire, Arcadia moves fluidly between events in 1809 and the modern inhabitants who are eager to discover what really happened in the past. We begin in 1809 where we will meet Thomasina, a teenager and mathematical prodigy, who works with her tutor Septimus. Yet we learn there are many secrets within the family on the estate. Affairs of the heart, unrequited love, and debates about chaos theory and the ideal gardening landscape flow throughout these scenes in the past. When the story moves to 1992, a garden historian and a literature professor visit to unearth the past. Was Lord Byron actually a guest? Was there a duel? Why is there a hermitage on the estate? What do the the current inhabitants of Sibley Park know about the past? Scenes move fluidly between two centuries, with an increasing reminder to cherish our time together. Arcadia is a play about passion, longing, astrophysics, and both the strength and fragility of the human heart
Writing
Stoppard's dialogue is a weapon—mathematical precision disguised as banter
Acting
Dual timelines demand actors who can break your heart twice
Production
One room, two centuries—staging that makes time collapse
Director
Patrick Dooley
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Stoppard spent years researching chaos theory with actual mathematicians; the play's entropy diagrams are scientifically accurate enough to cite in journals.
The 1809/1992 tableaux where characters from both eras share the stage eating identical goose—time collapsed into one devastating image of human continuity.
US
