BY ALEX HO

In print | April 19, 2007

“Et in Arcadia ego”, or “Here I am in Arcadia.” The much-referenced Latin phrase refers to a feeling of having experienced the pleasures of life on Earth even in the face of death. Audience members will certainly share the sentiment this coming Saturday, April 21 and Sunday, April 22 at 2 p.m. as they watch the Drama Board production of Tom Stoppard’s 1993 play “Arcadia” in the most pitch-perfect venue, the idyllic paradise of the Scott Amphitheater (weather permitting).

The play takes place in 1809 in an English country house where thirteen-year-old prodigy Thomasina Coverly (Katie Bates ‘08) discusses her revolutionary mathematical discovery with her freewheeling tutor Septimus Hodge (Mikio Akagi ’08). Meanwhile, 180 later, two scholars, Hannah Jarvis (Marina Tempelsman ’10) and Bernard Nightingale (Dustin Trabert ’10), investigate how Lord Byron may or may not have been involved with Thomasina and Septimus. They are helped by the contemporary Coverly family, which includes Chloe (Anna Phillips ’10), Valentine (David Stifler ’08), and Gus (Blair Reaser ’07). (And this is only half of the cast.) The play boasts a host of amusing supporting characters — one such being Jellaby the butler, whom Caitlin Koerber ’07 said was "pretty much my dream role. He gets to ’butle’, facilitate the exchange of impassioned notes and hold a rabbit." Co-director Nora Nussbaum ‘08 said, "We’ve got such an interesting range of people for the show. Some have never acted before, some have acted in everything, some are from Boy Meets Tractor. The atmosphere is really nice and collaborative."

“Arcadia” is in many ways the perfect Swarthmore play. Like many of Stoppard’s works, “Arcadia” alludes to human accomplishment. Much of the play’s conflict lies in the never-ending debate between enlightenment and romanticism, between determinism and chaos, between science and the humanities. “Byron is the romantic ideal, whereas Thomasina is very much the figure of rationality. They stand diametrically opposed to each other,” said Bates. The binary is reiterated in the 1989 story as Hannah investigates, with the help of post-doc mathematician Valentine, and begins to find the ostentatious Bernard insufferable in his lazy rejection of the facts. Call it the Bathtub Debates: Round Two.

Those wary of the extremes of either side need not worry. As Koerber eloquently put it, “This is a play that physicists and humanists can enjoy together.” Co-director Micaella Baranello ‘07, a self-described humanist, didn’t think that the scientific conversations would be any less entertaining than the rest of the play. “It’s accessible and gives a rather poetic explanation of science, which I enjoy.”

Intellectualizing aside, the play also has its share of humor, although you may have to listen more closely than usual for it. Assistant stage manager Abigail Agresta ‘09 said, "I still think it’s funny after having watched it for so many times." However, she worries that “a lot of people won’t get the jokes.” For example, in one scene Septimus has Thomasina unknowingly translate some Shakespeare from Latin into English. Even on top of having to understand what exactly is going on, the already understated joke is rather dark, as it causes Thomasina to get very upset.

Sex is also the source of much of the play’s humor. Hannah laments how sex seems to inhibit the minds of even the most ingenious men, like Einstein. Love-starved Chloe theorizes that chaos can all be explained by sex. “The only thing going wrong is people fancying people who aren’t supposed to be in that part of the plan,” she says.

Though “Arcadia” does not aim for high drama, many consider it to be a tragedy. Nussbaum said, “One thing I like about the play, which I think is the greatest thing that theater can do, is make its audience laugh in one moment and in the next moment make them stop laughing and get really uncomfortable.” Although perfect from afar, even intellectual paradise is rife with human folly.

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