by
DENNIS GARNHUM
Director and Guest Artist
IT IS ONE THING to read and study
Arcadia; it is in fact a whole different
experience to put it up on the stage.
How do we take Tom Stoppard's intelligent
thoughts and word play and find the
actable life that lies underneath?
After clarifying the meaning of every
word, every scientific notion, and
charting who knows what (he does
not make it easy for us, does he,
this Mr. Stoppard?) we then have
set a course that is easier said
than done: to present this play to
our audience as clearly as possible.
The root of most intellectual thought
can be tied to the passions by
which they are fueled. For the people
of
our play, to share with one another
the excitement of a mathematical
equation is the equivalent of someone
else describing their joy of conquering
the slopes of Whistler. While one
young girl dreams of charting the
equation of the leaf, we may dream
of our debut upon one of the great
stages
of the world. It's no different
than that. It is our passions which
inform
everything we do. Listen for the
passions of the characters currently
visiting this house known as Sidley
Park.
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But
wait: there is more! Taken one step
further, we uncover what is truly at
play here: sexual love unrequited (and
sometimes requited!), and the scandals
which follow. We also glimpse moments
of heartfelt and pure love. Sex and
Literature indeed!
Imagine
as you watch this play unfold,
a British playwright scribbling madly
as he enjoys
these characters and ideas fall
from
his imagination. Stoppard has said
he was just as surprised as anyone
else that the characters from the
two time periods would converge into
the
final overlapping scene. He belongs
among the geniuses that he describes:
passionate, inquisitive, and ever
curious of how things work and what
might be.
This is a passion which we hope
to rub off onto you. Tonight we celebrate
the joy, and dare I say desperate
need, of speculating, examining,
and
dreaming.
— Dennis
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