FOUR STARS

The year is 1809, and teenager Thomasina Coverly is studying with her tutor Septimus Hodge at Sidley Park, an English country house.

Thomasina is a brilliant mathematician, and has ideas well ahead of her time. But her lessons are also wide-ranging: the subject “carnal embrace” comes up, for instance. When Hodge explains what is involved, Thomasina exclaims: “Now whenever I do it I shall think of you”. “Oh no, my lady,” Hodge replies smoothly, “Think of a pair of grouse”. The atmosphere is much more Oscar Wilde than Downton Abbey.

Tom Stoppard’s play Arcadia then jumps forward from 1809 to Sidley Park in the 1990s, with the two periods alternating in successive scenes. Hannah Jarvis is researching into the history of the house and its magnificent gardens when she’s interrupted by vain history don Bernard Nightingale — and here this week’s Playhouse production of Arcadia should be on firm observational ground for it’s being staged by Oxford University student company Milk and Two Sugars. Starting in 1809, fearsome Lady Croom (Georgina Hellier, sounding very much like Samantha Bond) is having her gardens redone — gardener Richard Nokes (Jonathan Purkiss) quivers with nerves.

Meanwhile tutor Septimus Hodge (David Shields) dances attendance on his pupil, the precocious Thomasina, who is turned into a real flesh and blood, sparky character by Amelia Sparling. Coming forward to the 1990s, Carla Kingham’s down-to-earth researcher Hannah Jarvis is equally vibrant. A realistically awkward relationship develops between her and don Bernard Nightingale (Ed Barr-Sim), who is forever adopting theatrical poses to emphasise his tall, slim figure. But he flies into a rage whenever anyone questions his academic reputation.

Not for nothing is Arcadia described as one of the greatest plays of the 20th century. Right from Thomasina’s first lessons, Stoppard embraces everything from love and laughter, to landscape gardening, to philosophy, to the inevitability of human mortality. There’s a danger of intellectual overload, but at the dress rehearsal I saw experienced director James Fennemore kept the pace going, and the performances lively. This should turn out to be a thought-provoking but also entertaining production.

 

Until Saturday

Box office: 01865 305305, oxfordplayhouse.com