Arcadia: A Play by Tom Stoppard Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Arcadia: A Play
Book Review: An English Point of View
Summary: 5 Stars
Having been studying this text in England for my exams, I must point out that when you think Stoppard is showing off to the audience, he is not. By using such complex subject matter, and mathematical theories, he is poking fun at the "dons" of the world who are sitting in the audience enjoying their own private chuckle. In order for this text to be fully understood, it must be seen. Stoppard is not showing off his knowledge, he is merely creating yet more humour by mocking those literary characters who think that they know everything.Book Review: An Intelligent Drama
Summary: 4 Stars
This play is essentially a love story - no, much more than that, but at bottom, a sad love story between tutor and pupil. Septimus Hodge, whose being become alive on the pages and of course, the lovely, intelligent Thomassina. But that was way back in 1809 or thereabouts. In the future - oh yes, this is also a time travel science fiction play. We also discuss Newton, quantum physics, literary history, Lord Byron. All in but a brief few pages. There is much, much to recommend this dramatic work, although one wonders if unlike most plays it lends itself better to the written page than the stage.Book Review: An amazing play that I'd love to see again!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm thirteen years old and saw this play acted out just this summer. I saw it five times and each and every time I noticed something differant. Something I'd missed before. I had read it too, but to get the best from this play you really need to _see_ it. Beautiful dialogue and real characters. A thought provoking story that leaves you wondering.Book Review: An amusing and intellectually sharp piece of work!
Summary: 4 Stars
I read this book for my first-year-seminar on Chaos (at Barnard College). I did not actually think that the sections relating to Chaos (which put this book on the course reading list) were particularly thought-provoking. However, I enjoyed the book as a whole. The very best parts are the dialogue between Septimus Hodge (the dashing, witty tutor), and Thomasina Coverly (his young pupil, who is keenly and brilliantly aware of everything around her, and at the same time very childlike, naive, and innocent.) The two are soulmates on an intellectual level, and the interactions between them are among the funniest and most poignant I have ever read in a play of this era. Their modern counter-parts (this play switches between two time periods) are frankly sort of boring, but I think that Tom Stoppard does this on purpose: He shows the contrast between the charmed lives of these young, victorian-era geniuses, and the pretentious, repressed lives of the scientists of modern day. Anyway, however slow the 1990s scenes are, the scenes in the early 1800s make it all worth it. Read this play!Book Review: An intellectual piece....
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read this play, and acted in it (as Bernard and Chater) and I find it to be a very, very intelligent play. It shows that intellectual theatre still exists these days, and I think Tom Stoppard deserves a big congratulations. Though it lacks the overall pizzaz of some other contemporary plays (such as the Buddy Holly story, which I have also acted in) it makes a few seemingly simple events seem earth-shaking, and entertaining.