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Arcadia

Full-Length Play, Comedy

Tom Stoppard

Arcadia moves back and forth between 1809 and the present at the elegant estate owned by the Coverly family.

Arcadia

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Accolades
Accolades
  • Winner! 1995 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play
    Winner! 1994 Olivier Award for Best Play
    Nominee: 2010 Olivier Award for Best Revival of a Play

Details

Summary
Arcadia moves back and forth between 1809 and the present at the elegant estate owned by the Coverly family. The 1809 scenes reveal a household in transition. As the Arcadian landscape is being transformed into picturesque Gothic gardens, complete with a hermitage, thirteen year-old Lady Thomasina and her tutor delve into intellectual and romantic issues. Present day scenes depict the Coverly descendants and two competing scholars who are researching a possible scandal at the estate in 1809 involving Lord Byron. This brilliant play moves smoothly between the centuries and explores the nature of truth and time, the difference between classical and romantic temperaments, and the disruptive influence of sex on our life orbits the attraction Newton left out.
Keywords
  • Time Period Present Day, Victorian (British and American)

Licensing & Materials

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Authors

Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard’s most recent play, The Hard Problem, opened at the National Theatre in 2015. He wrote his first play, Enter a Free Man, whilst working as a journalist in Bristol. His plays include Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, The Real Inspector Hound, After Magritte, ...

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