Clinical Play 2002 – Arcadia
Clinical Play – Arcadia
Forget the Freshers Plays, the musical and the Spring Term ‘BIG’ production. The ICSM clinical play is the true highlight in the Drama Society’s calendar. Produced, acted and directed in by primarily clinical students, it concentrates on the essence of the plot, using experienced cast members, and comparatively sparse sets, so the talent of the society shows most effectively.
This year’s production, Arcadia lived up to the reputed high standards, and indeed, exceeded expectations. The most hardened cynic was convinced that he wasn’t paying (excessively) to sit in his own lecture theatre. With great flair, the props and scenery were displayed to provide a background for Tom Stoppard’s time travelling masterpiece, which addresses major questions of art, science, and history and how they intersect.
The play is set, in its entirety, in a single room, overlooking a garden, at Sidley Park, an English country estate. The scenes alternate between the 20th century and the 19th, until they finally converge at the end. In one period – 1809 to 1812 – it is the residence of Lord and Lady Croom, Lady Thomasina Coverly (a teenage mathematical prodigy) and her tutor, Septimus Hodge, amongst others. In the present, an author, Hannah Jarvis, a scholar, Bernard Nightingale, and the scientist (and one of the children of the house) Valentine are the main figures. Objects, letters, notebooks, furniture – appear in both, bridging time.
The plot is catalysed by Thomasina’s impending womanhood, a source of tension that rises as the play proceeds. Septimus is a natural object for her affections, but he meanwhile is involved in another affair. Adding to the complexity an unseen Byron, who went to university with Septimus, visits Sidley Park.
The confusion of who did what (and, in some cases, to whom) work to great comedic and dramatic effect. Much of the fun comes from the alternate scenes in the present, as these characters try to understand from the few clues left what exactly happened in the past. Bernard is trying to prove that Byron was involved in a duel with poet in residence Ezra Chater, explaining Byron’s unexplained two-year absence from England. Hannah becomes obsessed with a mysterious hermit who lived on the property (and, to her great satisfaction, manages to prove Bernard mistaken).
Having comparatively few characters, Arcadia is indeed very challenging to act in, as it lasts for almost three hours, and this alone displayed the calibre of the cast. Andrew Wheeler positively shone as the utterly repulsive Bernard, Thomasina, was ably transformed to a thirteen year old by Sarah Hull, the other teen, Katherine Sharpey being equally convincing. Valentine, (played by Tom Sterling) one of the more difficult parts to carry off, in my opinion, showed his true colours as an actor, as he has become remarkably at ease on stage since his casting in Hamlet, his chemistry with Hannah (Gina Weston-Petrides) being one of the more intriguing aspects of the subplot.
In conclusion – if you haven’t seen it this time, you have seriously missed out! Do your best to make it to next year’s clinical play to see the real talent in the Drama Society.
