There’s a theme that Sir Tom Stoppard explores in Arcadia – how everything in life begins by being warm and ends up cold and there is no reversing that process – and of course it seems all the more poignant coming so soon after the great playwright’s death.
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The first thing to be said about Carrie Cracknell’s production is that it is stylishly done. There is great set and lighting design from respectively Alex Eales and Guy Hoare and impressive costumes from Suzanne Cave. The acting is also high-definition and in its own way rather old-fashioned, with a real emphasis on the actors communicating Stoppard’s bon mots clearly and audibly.
This of course matters as Cracknell appreciates that Stoppard’s plays are always primarily about dazzling wordplay and this one is no exception. Seamus Dillane stands out in the ensemble as the tutor who makes the mistake of educating his pupil – played with beguiling innocence by Isis Hainsworth – and this young actor has that indefinable quality that has nothing whatsoever to do with good looks that draws the eyes of audiences upon him.
Tim Frances has less of an opportunity to shine as a lugubrious butler but nevertheless makes the most of every second he is on stage and achieved some of the biggest first night laughs.
This is an elegant, attractive, entertaining production and it is quintessentially Stoppardian in that the words make you think a lot about life and its ironies, but they are always the masters rather than the servants of the plot.
Arcadia is at the Old Vic, London, to March 21
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