As a colleague pointed out, anytime one may witness plays by Sir Tom Stoppard and Sir William Shakespeare in the course of one week, it is time to rejoice.
Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” and “Measure for Measure” currently rotate in repertory at The Old Globe through Sept. 30.
For a brief moment in time, theater fanatics, intellectuals, those who relish three-dimensional chess and scientific types who dig the Chaos Theory may book the brain-stimulating double-header by seeing a Shakespeare at the Globe plus Stoppard’s “Arcadia” at Cygnet Theatre. “Arcadia” continues through July 29 only. There ought to be a Legion of Honour button for those who experience these works on consecutive evenings.
Artistic director Sean Murray, who staged “Arcadia” in 1999 during his tenure at North Coast Repertory Theatre, revisits the complex piece at Cygnet, which he and his partner, executive director Bill Schmidt, premiered in the College Area in 2003. Since then the range and quality of Cygnet productions has been astonishing.
One might say that the three-hour “Arcadia” (1993) is Stoppard’s warm-up for his more recent nine-hour epic, “The Coast of Utopia,” which copped numerous 2006 Tony Awards, including best play and best director for our man in New York, Jack O’Brien, still the titular artistic director of The Old Globe.
“Arcadia” is set in Sidley Park, an English countryside manor, during two separate eras, 1809 and the present. The 21st-century houseguests are literary types investigating the possibility that the great romantic poet Lord Byron visited, dueled with and killed an obscure poet named Ezra Chater, who was a guest of owners Lord and Lady Croom. Lady Croom has hired landscape architect Richard Noakes to convert the garden to reflect the new “picturesque style,” replete with hermitage, an obelisk and a water feature.
In the opening scene, the Croom daughter, Thomasina Coverly, a gifted and possibly brilliant mathematician at 13, is discovered with her tutor, Septimus Hodge, whom she secretly loves. Hodge is likely involved with Lady Croom and accused of being seen in “carnal embrace” with the unseen Mrs. Chater, whose husband challenges him to a duel.
At present-day Sidley Park, Chloe, Valentine and Gus Coverly host author Hannah Jarvis, who is researching for her book on English gardens. Literary scholar Bernard Nightingale arrives, hoping to prove through books and documents at Sidley Park that Lord Byron shot Chater.
In a series of seven century-hopping scenes, the audience witnesses what truly happened in 1809-1812 juxtaposed with the delusions, expectations and passions of the modern-day residents and scholars. Stoppard contrasts the Romantic and Rational periods beautifully, holding each to the light as if candling eggs filled with human foibles.
Cygnet’s excellent company includes the delightful Rachael VanWormer as Thomasina; Matt Biedel as Hodge; David Radford as Chater; Bryan Curtiss White as Noakes; Glynn Bedington as Lady Croom; Jim Chovick as the butler; and Michael C. Burgess as Capt. Brice. The moderns are Rosina Reynolds as Hannah Jarvis; Kate Reynolds as Chloe Coverly; Jason Conners as Valentine Coverly; and Claudio Raygoza as Nightingale. Zev Lerner straddles both eras as Augustus and Gus.
In the post-“Arcadia” afterglow, one ponders possible parallels between characters presented in each era. It’s a marvelous pastime.
“Arcadia” continues at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, at Cygnet Theatre, 6663 El Cajon Blvd. For tickets an information, visit www.cygnettheatre.com or call (619) 337-1525.