Review: ARCADIA at Portland Stage

Where do you go to have an entertaining time at the theater while simultaneously being intellectually stimulated?  Attending a play authored by Tom Stoppard would seem to be an obvious answer.  And Portland Stage is offering a production of what many consider his best work to open the company’s 53rd season.

Stoppard (1937-2025) has long been known for his talent in deftly mixing complex ideas into plays that not only win prizes but are revered by theater audiences who seek neither an easy laugh nor a heavy lecture (but, perhaps a bit of both) from the stage. Though he wrote several such plays, Arcadia is often pointed to as a particularly fine example.

The play goes deeply into questions about the meaning of life and how best to address its uncertainties.  In its two-and-one-half hour visit to essentially the same room in an English country house in two different centuries, themes are raised about romanticism, free will, thermodynamics, chaos theory, and more to challenge the mind while amorous entanglements cause amusing complications. The British accents employed take some getting used to, but the engrossing nature of the production never falters.

The distance between 1809 and the present is artfully traversed by a Portland Stage cast of eight, most of whom double in varied roles under the direction of Christopher Grabowski. The costuming by Jacqueline Firkins adds period detail while the minimal set by Anita Stewart keeps things simple

The play begins with an intelligent and a bit naughty conversation between the precocious teenager Thomasina, played as a spirited fount of ideas and observations by Rebecca Whitney Klein, and her tutor Septimus, played as a quick wit by Parker Drown.  Subjects discussed range from the theories of Sir Isaac Newton to who was seen having an illicit liaison in a nearby gazebo.

Septimus talks his way out of a duel by appealing to the vanity of a poet portrayed by Alex Brightwell.  But was there a duel after all?  And was a much more famous poet involved?

A quick switch to the present introduces two alternately competitive and collaborative scholars trying to figure out, from sketchy documentation, exactly what transpired over two hundred years earlier. Mystery and comedy ensue as Casey Killoran as Hannah and Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper as Bernard go head-to-head, intellectually speaking, swapping biting zingers as only the British can do.

A scene between Hannah and latter-day character Valentine (Brightwell doubling) also worked particularly well.

Relatively minor but still memorable characters are played by George Sopko, Nathaniel Cummons, and local favorite Kat Moraros.

There were a few more empty seats after intermission at the afternoon performance under review.  But most who stayed got to experience the many delights of a well-performed and truly exceptional play.

Arcadia runs through October 25.

go to: portlandstage.org

photo by French’s Fotos Photography

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