Arcadia Tickets

Witness the past and the present collide onstage with a new production of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia at the Duke of York’s Theatre. In this classic play, which first appeared in London in 1993, we follow the events of two time periods in the same stately home, seeing how the secret lives of some are given new meaning by future generations.

A large cast of experienced actors have been lined up for roles in the David Leveaux directed production, including Nancy Carroll, Samantha Bond, Jessie Cave, Neil Parson, Dan Stevens, Ed Stoppard, Trevor Cooper, Sam Cox, Lucy Griffiths, Tom Hodgkins, Hugh Mitchell and George Potts. They will take on characters that have previously been handled by the likes of Felicity Kendal and Paul Giamatti.

When the play opens we are first given a chance to witness the events of the past first hand as we are introduced to the character of Thomasina Coverly, a daughter of the Derbyshire house in 1809. She is an intelligent girl, with insights and ideas in the world of mathematics that would put many to shame. But she has also got a gift for observing the world around her and she can see the hidden underbelly of people’s desires, including those held by her tutor Septimus Hodge (a friend of Lord Byron).

However, Thomasina is not the only one who is interested in these secrets, as Bernard Nightingale and Hannah Jarvis arrive to uncover the hidden world themselves come 1989. Bernard is an academic researching into the life of Lord Byron, whilst Hannah is looking into a hermit who used to live on the site and with the help of a post graduate student in the form of Valentine Coverly and student Chloe Coverly, they get to work. What they uncover are many truths previously unknown about the house, as well as many of the secrets that Thomasina uncovered nearly two centuries earlier.

Director David Leveaux brings a world of experience to the stage, holding the title of one of the countries leading directors. He is no stranger to the work of Tom Stoppard, having directed The Real Things and Jumpers prior to Arcadia and will bring the classic story to a new generation of theatregoers. It will mark the first time the play has been seen in a major production since the original 1993 run at the National Theatre, when Felicity Kendal appeared in a starring role.

Arcadia is at the Duke Of York’s Theatre from Thursday 4th June 2009 (previews from Wednesday 27th May 2009) until Saturday 12th September 2009.