The Trail

Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: A&E

Chaos theory. Iterated algorithms. Mystery. English garden history. Love. Thermodynamics. Fractals. Sex. Pigeons.

There is more intellectual ground covered in the UPS mainstage production of "Arcadia" than you can shake a stick at.

Tonight, the UPS theatre department presents Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia" at 7:30 p.m. in Norton-Clapp Theatre.

The story is literally about all of the subjects mentioned above, though presented in Stoppard's famed British style.

Stoppard has penned both "Shakespeare in Love" and "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead," and he brings "Arcadia" to audiences in a similarly bantering, witty tradition.

The plot focuses on two groups of characters occupying the same room of a house 200 years apart. One plotline, set in 1809, revolves around a 13-year-old math genius and her mother's ridiculous batch of poets and friends. A second plotline, set in the present, follows three scholars who are trying to study the past inhabitants of the house (portrayed in the parallel plotline).

Partly a critique on the legitimacy of scholarly truths and knowledge, and partly an exploration of advanced mathematics, like chaos theory and iterated algorithms, this play will probably blow the brain out of your skull. It is intensely smart and wildly varied, but director Jac Royce would not have it any other way.

"Theatre students are the ultimate liberal arts students, since we're interested in everything, and this was our chance to do it," she said.

Illuminating at some points (I did, in fact, learn what an iterated algorithm is) and impenetrable at others, Stoppard's script does demand a highbrow audience to understand his humor and historical references. The play itself is wonderfully acted by a cast spanning all four grades, whose delivery and physical comedy help keep the mood light and entertaining.
The production has been in the works for just under three months, with countless hours being put in by cast and crew alike.

Senior Katie Condit, who plays the character of Lady Croom, described her experience as "both fun and exhausting, working three or four hours a night. It's just a funny way to put a bunch of people together who don't know each other and make them best friends."

Hard at work behind the scenes are set designer Mike Edwards, costume designer Mishka Navarre and lighting director Connie Yun, who have each dedicated months of creativity and labor to the production.

Navarre, for one, designed and created four separate costumes for each of the thirteen characters, for a grand total of fifty-two costumes.

All of this work is for two glorious weeks of performance beginning tonight at 7:30 p.m. and again on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Norton-Clapp Theatre. Next week, they will play Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. with an extra Saturday matinee show at 2:00 p.m.

So for a sophisticated night at the theatre, full of British accents, witty repartee, and a little love and mathematics, drop in to Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia." Tally ho!

• Travis McNamara iterated the hell out of this algorithm a while ago.

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