Theater Review: Arcadia @ Lantern Theater Co.
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Kathryn MacMillan's production of this Tom Stoppard play was the best I've seen yet.
Each time I see Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, it’s in a smaller theater, from Broadway in 1995 to the Wilma’s 1996 theater-opening production and Villanova’s 2001 revival. The 150-seat St. Stephen’s Theater put me in the front row of director Kathryn MacMillan’s production — the best I’ve seen yet.
Arcadia’s clever weaving of two periods begins in 1809, when precocious teen Thomasina (Alex Boyle) asks tutor Septimus (Maxwell Eddy), “What is carnal embrace?” The present-day story shows competing scholars Hannah (Kittson O’Neill) and Bernard (Joe Guzmán) combing estate records for evidence of Lord Byron’s visit and the identity of Sidley Park’s hermit, the rumored “idiot in the landscape.” Ultimately, we learn more than the characters in either time.
MacMillan’s erudite cast makes the play clear, fun and exciting for those willing to dive in. Eddy’s randy tutor is a slippery harlequin, Boyle’s Thomasina bursts with curiosity, and O’Neill and Guzmán spar brilliantly. Angela Smith, Daniel Fredrick and Trevor William Fayle are fascinating as modern aristocratic siblings, and Charlotte Northeast plays their ancestor, Lady Croom, with cunning verve, easily handling her blustering brother Captain Brice (Nathan Foley), ambitious gardener (Mal Whyte) and supercilious butler (Mike Dees).
Meghan Jones’ set is bathed in glorious sunlight by Thom Weaver. Janus Stefanowicz’s costumes are like the script, subtly witty and detailed, and Christopher Colucci’s original music teases ethereally. Lantern’s 21st-season opener makes this daunting play appropriately intimate — magnifying and celebrating Arcadia’s considerable assets.
Through Nov. 2, $10-$39, Lantern Theater Company at St. Stephen’s Theater, 923 Ludlow St., 215-829-0395, lanterntheater.org.
