# Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487 "2003-04-23T01:46:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Redboss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8baadc/32.png) [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487/1 "2003-04-23T01:46:53Z")
My drama company (the one I belong to, not the one I own) is about to open this play, on May first. I am doing props for it, and there are at least 75 separate props many of which I’ve had to make - a Major Performance there, if probably largely un-noticed… But I am enchanted by the play itself. It was almost incomprehensible on the first reading, but I feel now I almost get it all. One of the things I am impressed by is the incredible range of what Stoppard brings into the piece: mathemathical theory, a theme of inappropriate sexual attraction, amusing observations about changing standards, and our inability to really understand the past. A favourite moment is Lady Croome’s observation about a “fast” woman who wears drawers: that she doesn’t hold with women being dressed like jockeys. A moment that is unexpected, informs us about womens fashions in the early nineteenth century, is also funny and in context seductive and sexy. A Stoppardian complexity in one short line that gets a sure-fire laugh. I thought since you lot are so cultured, there was bound to be somebody else who has also enjoyed the play, has acted in it or even been the props person. I look forward to your comments. Redboss ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487/2 "2003-04-23T02:25:41Z")
I saw the play in Atlanta a few years ago, and was bowled over by its beauty and intricacy. It’s a hard play to understand thoroughly from one sitting. The theater in Atlanta was holding sessions to explain the play to those who wanted to know more! I’m a huge Stoppard fan, and have been seeing his plays for 30 years now. He’s one of the few who has been at the top level of playwrights the entire time. Thomas Whitaker wrote a book on him in 1983 that I just picked up at a book sale for $2. I was amazed and thrilled to find out when I got it home that under the book jacket flap was Stoppard’s signature! A great find. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487/3 "2003-04-23T02:50:19Z")
I saw _Arcadia_ performed by the Canadian Stage Theatre Company when I was 16. I absolutely loved it. I was moved by it in a way that I didn’t expect. I also really absorbed the mathematical theory, which is a feat for me. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487/4 "2003-04-23T03:58:21Z")
You saw it at the Alliance, **Exapno Mapcase**? I saw that production as well! It’s one of the few productions which, IMHO, the Alliance has gotten right. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487/5 "2003-04-23T04:17:19Z")
I was accompanying my wife on her business trip with the idea of staying over a couple of days to see some of Atlanta. (Frequent flyer miles galore back in her traveling days.) Naturally, we had to see Stoppard while we were there. We saw the play in not the glitziest area of downtown, but I don’t remember the name of the theater. But if it was the Alliance, then they got it right. It was a very good production. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487/6 "2003-04-23T05:06:52Z")
Also saw the play in Atlanta. I loved it! It was better than _Cats_! I’m going to see it again and again! ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487/7 "2003-04-23T10:14:21Z")
_Arcadia_ is my favorite play, and I hate you with all the passion that my SPOOFEy mind can muster, since you get the chance to work on it. Yay for Septimus Hodge! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487/8 "2003-04-23T17:09:57Z")
If there are any rich dopers our there with a jones for Stoppard, Ursus Rare Books is offering > [@](#): > > Stoppard, Tom, Stoppard Collection. 0 > 98665 STOPPARD, Tom. Extensive collection of 84 volumes, including 74 volumes of plays, 4 anthologies, 5 reference works and 1 printed speech, PLUS: 23 pieces of ephemera, including 7 original theater posters, 5 Stoppard autographs, 1 holograph note by Stoppard, 6 photographs of Stoppard (including 3 original press photos), 1 broadside, 1 postcard, 1 one long-playing record. $ 35,000.00 Near complete collection of Tom Stoppard material. The books by Stoppard in this collection represent 34 titles, 32 of which are present in their First Edition, seven of which are present in Uncorrected Proofs, and many of which are SIGNED by the author. Price? A juicy $35,000.00. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487/9 "2003-04-23T17:48:45Z")
**Exapno** , it’s an inappropriately huge price, that’s for sure, but as a collector, I can tell you that that is what Ursus does. They, along with a few other super-premium dealers, tend to mark their books up 2 - 3 or even 5 times more than other dealers sell them for. I have always assumed they sell to tourists (they are based in the ritzy Carslyle Hotel in NYC) or rich collectors who don’t give a darn… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487/10 "2003-04-23T18:01:34Z")
I’m familiar with the technique. The flip side is that the items they mark up this way are very often the best quality available, signed or other associational pieces, and complete collections hard to obtain individually. Depends on what you want as a collector. They also have a special signed slipcased edition of Arcadia for a measly $850.00. ---
**Author:** ![Redboss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8baadc/32.png) [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487/11 "2003-04-24T01:26:25Z")
It’s been interesting reading your responses. I now have 79 of the 81 props, and there’s still a week till opening night! The tortoise and cone and pyramid arrived yesterday - on hire from the Sydney Theatre Company - and I picked up the loaned theodolite from an antique shop. It was fun making several books in two versions - one brand new, and another 200 years old. I baked some in the oven to age the paper and they still have a nice smokey smell about them - as if they’ve been rescued form a house fire - hmm- that’s not that good a thought. your harried props person, Redboss ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487/12 "2003-04-24T01:41:17Z")
> [@](#): > > as if they’ve been rescued form a house fire - hmm- that’s not that good a thought. … Especially given the manner in which Thomasina bit the dust… ---
**Author:** ![Salieri2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Salieri2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salieri2)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-stoppards-arcadia/170487/13 "2003-04-27T02:13:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Redboss \* > \*\*… > The tortoise and cone and pyramid arrived yesterday - on hire from the Sydney Theatre Company - and I picked up the loaned theodolite from an antique shop. … > your harried props person, > > Redboss \*\* Are you using a live tortoise “sleepy enough to be used as a paperweight”? Last production of _Arcadia_ I saw used a live, rambunctious tortoise who made a lot of noise trying to escape from the big glass bowl they ended up confinining him in. Blew some of the dramatic scenes with his raven-like tapping and rapping. It was still a good production. The first one I saw [Denver Center, late '96] was the best of the three I’ve seen. Stunning. Jesus wept. Sadly, I’ve never been able to be involved. Could have done it in March but was working on an opera at the time, schedule conflicts. _Arcadia_: the only play that has ever, however briefly, made me wish I were a performer, just to be able to speak that wonderful dialogue. Lady Croome, Thomasina, Hannah, any one of the women barring Chloe. [quoting from memory, may be inaccurate]: Hannah: “Chaps sometimes wanted to marry me, and I don’t know when I’ve heard a worse bargain. Available sex against not being allowed to fart in bed.” Lady Croome: “Do not dabble in irony, Edward, it puts you in danger of fortuitous wit.” Thomasina: [age 13, after a scene full of learned mathematical postulation wherein she demonstrates her adult genius, upon learning that there will be rice pudding for dessert] “Oh, goody!” What a fantastic play. Thanks for your post. I have had a poopy day and it cheers me up.