Stoppard’s Son Leads First Arcadia Revival, 4 Jun

Tom Stoppard’s 1993 modern classic Arcadia will receive its first major London revival this summer at the West End’s Duke of York’s Theatre, with a cast including the author’s son, Ed Stoppard. The new production, directed by David Leveaux, will have a limited season from 4 June to 12 September 2009 (previews from 27 May).

The story begins in April 1809 at a stately home in Derbyshire where Thomasina, a gifted pupil, proposes a startling theory, beyond her comprehension. All around her, the adults, including her tutor Septimus, are preoccupied with secret desires, illicit passions and professional rivalries. Two hundred years later, academic adversaries Hannah and Bernard, are piecing together puzzling clues, curiously recalling those earlier events, in their quest for an increasingly elusive truth.

Ed Stoppard’s previous London stage credits include The Glass Menagerie, Hamlet and, most recently, On the Rocks. He’s joined in the Arcadia cast by Neil Pearson, Dan Stevens, Nancy Carroll and Jessie Cave.

Director David Leveaux has previously directed revivals of Stoppard’s The Real Thing and Jumpers, both of which transferred to the West End and Broadway following runs at, respectively, the Donmar Warehouse and the National Theatre. Leveaux’s other credits include Nine, Fiddler on the Roof, Betrayal, Cyrano de Bergerac and Anna Christie on Broadway; and The Distance from Here and Sinatra in the West End.

Currently at the Duke of York’s, Lindsay Posner’s revival of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, starring Ken Stott, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Hayley Atwell, is booking until 16 May 2009.

– by Terri Paddock