Interview: 'He's An Interesting One!': Actor Seamus Dillane on Playing Septimus Hodge And Making The Audience Work in ARCADIA

Arcadia, written by the late Sir Tom Stoppard, is about to open The Old Vic theatre. The play takes a look at the roles of chaos and order in the universe through the lens of two different centuries, with some scenes taking place in 1809 and others taking place in the present day.

Recently, we had the chance to speak with Seamus Dillane, who plays the role of Septimus Hodge, the tutor of Thomasina Coverly, in Arcadia. We discussed what made him want to be a part of the production, what interests him about his character and what it has been like working with a play where the cast is divided between two timelines.

How did you first get started in the world of theatre?

School plays! Also, my whole family are actors, so the world has always been there, but I tried desperately to do anything other than acting for the first few years, to make sure I was doing it for the right reasons. So I did a couple of plays, got an agent, went to drama school and did all that. And that's how it began!

And what made you want to be a part of Arcadia?

The play itself! The writing is amazing, and I'd worked on a Tom Stoppard play before last year, which gave me a taste of it - it made me really want to explore more. I had a smaller part in The Invention of Love. The opportunity to wrap my mouth around his words a little bit more with a more meaty character, I leapt in! And also, Carrie [Cracknell] directing it . . . I'd seen one of her shows, and I'd heard from a mate of mine just how brilliant she was, and she's lived up to that.

For those who might be unfamiliar with Arcadia, can you tell us a bit about it and the role that you play, Septimus Hodge?

Well, it's a play that's set in two timelines - the 1990s and 1809. And 1809 is the time my character Septimus is in. He is tutoring a young, very bright, very intelligent thirteen-year-old girl who is steps ahead of him and a lot of the world in her thinking about mathematics, chaos theory, entropy - all these words that I'm learning during this show - and the effects of that on the people around her. And then the 1990s is trying to piece together their versions of stories that were going on at that time, trying to find the gaps in history, the miscommunications across time, how one letter can change the game. There's a bit of sexiness, there's a lot of wit, a lot of humour, and we'll leave it there!

What has the rehearsal process been like?

It's been great! I look forward to going to work every day, which is not always the case. We had two weeks at the beginning just before Christmas, and then we had a week off. I was really grateful that Carrie was willing to take the time in those first two weeks to develop relationships amongst the cast, but also as characters - to really figure out backstory, who you are to me and what happened just before we come on stage there.

In my experience in my short career so far, it's a bit of a risk to take the time to do that, because we have such little time to rehearse. So to take two weeks out to do that is, I can imagine, quite risky. But for the actors, we're so grateful for it, because that's the foundation. From there, we can do whatever. So it's been great.

What has it been like to work with this character of Septimus Hodge?

He's an interesting one! He's a charmer. He's sexually promiscuous, perhaps, but he's also extremely intelligent and caring for this young girl - caring for her knowledge and for her desire to know more. He's fully supportive of that. And those three things could be contradictory in some way, but we are all walking contradictions, so he is no more or no less contradictory than anyone else. 

What is it about this play and Tom Stoppard’s work that you think makes him such a legendary playwright? 

There's a timelessness to it and a heart. Everyone understands in their own way, but from my perception of what it is, these people have brains like no one I've ever met, but also have hearts like no one I've ever met. They're all so full, these characters and their thirst for knowledge is is beyond my comprehension. So Tom was able to balance that.

What is it like working in a play that's in two different time, like timelines. How does that work in terms of rehearsing and getting to know the characters?

It's an absolute joy when we're all in the same room together. We did a run yesterday, and that was the case. The first few weeks, we're all trying to figure out what story we're telling, and hopefully we're all on the same page. It's been odd to split it, because, other than the final scene, there is no crossover. So it's a delight when we do a run and we're able to see what the other half been working on and how we fit into their world, and they fit into us, because there are little clues that bounce across from each one, which is special.

I wish I could spend more time with them all, of course, but it's nice. It also means that there's a real focus when we're in the room, because everyone is there because they're in the scene, which creates a focus.

What has it been like working with Carrie Cracknell?

She's great! She's absolutely brilliant. She thinks and feels so deeply about about the work and about actors. She's constantly bringing into the room how lucky we all are to be doing this work. Not everyone looks forward to coming in and hanging out with a load of people and discovering things together as a job. And she's really particular. I trust that she knows what she wants, but also, she is so open to other offers and other thoughts. No ego, which is cannot be said for everyone! She's brilliant. I feel in very safe hands. 

What do you hope audiences take away from Arcadia?

I think Tom Stoppard wasn't afraid of making audiences work. At this time, television, film, theatre, we are being shown what to think and told what to believe. And there is room for that - that's entertainment, and that is crucial as well. But he wasn't afraid of doing that. 

Hopefully, we will have done a lot of work that you can understand, and Tom had already done a lot of the work for us as the actors. So that's what made him very unique - he didn't treat the audience like idiots. He really met them and went, “Let's expand our minds and hearts together,” and I think that's so rare. So the audience can come to expect to work a little bit, for their mind to be blown and their heart to have opened up a bit and just a laugh. I think they'll have a good laugh!

And how would you describe Arcadia in one word?

Chaos!

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