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Sex, death and chaos theory converge in Stoppard's 'Arcadia'

Nov. 20, 2007

RIPON, Wis. – Auditions for Tom Stoppard's mind-bending play "Arcadia" will be held at 7 p.m., Nov. 27 and 28 in the Rodman Center for the Arts. Students are encouraged to attend. Four female roles and eight male roles will be cast.

“Arcadia” takes the audience through time. Set simultaneously in 1809 and 1989, the play introduces two separate generations living in the same room. In 1809, Thomasina is the young mathematical genius tutored by the respectable Septimus. When Thomasina voices her curiosity about the world around her, Septimus tries to shield her innocence but is unsuccessful at tricking the young genius into believing that “carnal embrace” entails “Throwing one’s arms around a side of beef.”

Their present-day counterparts to these characters are as interested in who did what with whom as Thomasina is about her blossoming womanhood. Hannah and Bernard find themselves engrossed in research about the 1809 family and their interactions with the famous Lord Byron.

Stoppard brings into light the comic notions one is willing to accept when attempting to be recognized as well as the innocent intelligence of young people. “Arcadia” shows the efforts of these individuals to understand the future and the achievements realized in the past in a comic struggle to understand each other.

The play also relies heavily on mathematical theory from a thematic standpoint. In the process of questioning her teacher, Thomasina invents "Thomasina's geometry of irregular forms," more commonly known as fractal geometry. She also unwittingly discovers Newton's Second Law of Thermodynamics and lays the foundation for what we now call chaos theory.

About Ripon College
Ripon College, founded in 1851, prepares students of diverse interests for lives of productive, socially responsible citizenship. Ripon’s liberal arts curriculum and residential campus create an intimate learning community in which students experience a richly personalized education. Ripon has consistently been recognized as a “best value” and “Best 366 College” by The Princeton Review, a “Best Buy in College Education” by Barron’s, a “Best Liberal-Arts College” by Washington Monthly, and is listed among the 160 best schools in the nation by Colleges of Distinction.