Review: Smarten up and be entertained by the riches of Stoppard's 'Arcadia'

By Candace Chaney Contributing theater critic

Every now and then a rare play comes along that is like the perfect date – smart, funny, sexy, sophisticated – and maybe a little bit intimidating. Actors’ Guild of Lexington’s latest production, Arcadia, is such a play.

Before you go thinking it is out of your league, think again. Playwright Tom Stoppard’s script is so sweeping in its content, from math and physics to history and poetry to sex and religion; it is bound to strike at least one of your fancies, probably many more. What’s more, its diverse subject matter (life, the universe and everything!), as well as its sharply hewn characters and casually elevated wit, offers endless ways “in” to the production so that all but the very determined naysayer will be easily seduced intellectually, emotionally, and maybe even spiritually.

An all-star local cast breathes life into Stoppard’s richly wrought tale of two families who live in the same stately English manor, Sidley Park, but at different points in history. Half of the play takes place in the 19th century and the other in the late 20th.

The earlier period centers on the relationships among the Coverly family and their several houseguests, including an offstage Lord Byron. Tutored by a friend and former classmate of Byron’s, Septimus Hodge (Adam Luckey), young Thomasina Coverly (Rebecca Pearcy) is a mathematical prodigy, discovering ideas about chaos theory, thermodynamics, and the fate of the universe, among other things, a hundred years before their time.

Thomasina’s work, along with Hodge’s fate, and Bryon’s involvement in the family - including the dynamics of their implied romantic aspirations - lies at the center of a mystery that 20th-century scholars hope to discover by researching the written accounts that remain of Sidley Park. The scholars’ interrelationships, along with those of the Coverly descendants still living at Sidley Park, bear such striking thematic resemblances to their predecessors; it is obvious that their worlds are inextricably linked.

Watching the detailed unfolding of scholarly research doesn’t conjure images of scintillatingly urgent, nail-biting drama, but this production somehow manages to do just that. Stoppard’s signature wit and erudition offers a wryly entertaining way to engage the story’s complex intellectual mysteries and emotional intrigues.

Director Ave Lawyer and the cast deserve praise for a job thoroughly well done.

So advanced is the material that even the slightest lack of depth in preparation would make the whole experience seem like a sophomoric joke. While each character seems passionately and convincingly possessed by her own individual ideas, it is the cast’s collective sense of timing and carefully delivered interactions that make the play a whole, unified experience rather than a series of dangling, separate parts.

For instance, the two “worlds” of the play beautifully converge and overlap toward the end in elegantly staged choreography that underscores the play’s overarching continuity. And although it runs a little on the long side (three hours), the pacing feels even, satisfying, and natural, so that we feel we are watching real, dynamic human lives, not just a list of dry ideas.

The number of talented cast members are too great to account for individually, but one enjoyable hallmark of this show is its debut of imported actress Rebecca Pearcy, whose Thomasina is refreshingly animate, earnest, and bright. One gets the sense that her infectious enthusiasm exists off stage as well as on (for more on that, check out her blog at www.actorsguildoflexington.org). And naturally, she wins the prize for best British accent seeing as she is, well, British.

This show is also the first and possibly only known production that employs the talents of a live tortoise. While he is rumored to be something of a backstage diva, his onstage antics, which include crawling and chewing on paper, are not to be missed.

All in all, this show’s fertile material and top-notch performances provide a memorable evening of entertainment, intellectual acuity, and meaningful romance. So rich is its offerings that you could attend every performance and discover new, wildly sophisticated, almost mind-blowing ideas and implications.

In fact, it even comes with instructions in the form of a study guide in the playbill, and a glossary and packet of supplemental materials awaits you in the lobby should you decide to delve deeper into the play’s expansive litany of themes.

Regardless, you will probably leave the play at least 10 IQ points smarter than when you entered. If you see it many times, you may become a genius. And if you want to impress a date with your wit and intelligence, this is the show for you.