This review originally appeared in the MetroWest Daily News on Thursday, January 22, 2004.

Hovey's 'Arcadia' makes for heady entertainment

By David Brooks Andrews / News Corresondent

One doesn't usually go to the theater to wrestle with mind-bending concepts of theoretical math, physics and literary biography.

Such is normally the stuff of academic books and lectures, not plays. That is, unless the playwright is Tom Stoppard, who has made an art out of interweaving intellectual material with colorful characters, witty lines and a storyline that keeps you hooked.

The Hovey Players have ambitiously tackled Stoppard's "Arcadia," creating a production that not only makes sense of the play but also makes good, entertaining theater out of it with lots of humor. That's no small accomplishment, especially for a community theater.

"Arcadia" consists of two intertwining stories. The first involves a collection of English aristocracy who have congregated at Sidley Park, the country home of Lady Croom, in 1809. When the play opens, her extraordinarily bright, teenage daughter, Thomasina Coverly, is being tutored by Septimus Hodge. Only he's having to explain to her the term "carnal embrace," because he was recently caught in it with another man's wife.

The second story line involves the present-day ancestors of the Coverlys, who continue to live at Sidley Park, and two battling scholars, Hannah Jarvis and Bernard Nightingale, who are researching the history of the Coverly family and their famous guests. Bernard is convinced he's discovered evidence that the poet Lord Byron killed a fellow poet in a duel at Sidley Park, while Hannah scorns his theory.

We slowly learn the truth of what happened nearly 200 years ago as the play alternates between the sexual dalliances and allegations of the early period and the academic infighting of today. In the middle of all this, Stoppard has Thomasina attempting to find a mathematical formula to explain all of nature's shapes, a landscape architect turning the Coverlys' classically designed garden into a Romantic one and the contemporary scholars arguing about the value of scientific vs. literary truths.

You don't want to be tired when you come to see this play, but if you listen carefully it's not too hard to follow. On the other hand, a page or two in the playbill explaining some of the intellectual concepts and theories would have been helpful.

Director Michael Tonner has done a remarkable job of giving life, flow and meaning to such a complex play with so many words and ideas. One wishes he could have helped some of the actors give performances that were a little richer and emotionally truer.

Nora Jane Williams brings charming youthful enthusiasm to Thomasina, and Kate Mahoney creates an elegantly sophisticated Lady Croom. But early in the play, Michael Tomasulo as Septimus gets bogged down in his long lines and doesn't give them enough emotional color. He also doesn't yet seem to have found the heart of his character.

Tara Brooke Watkins gives one of the most emotionally honest and believable performances of the show as the contemporary scholar Hannah. She's a delight to watch. The other scholar, Bernard, is the driving force of the play, and Wayne Vargas certainly plays him to the hilt, but he tends to overdo it. The same goes for Justin Budinoff, who plays attitudes more than specific moments as Ezra Chater, the cuckolded poet.
Marc Miller is a delightfully quirky Richard Noakes, the landscape architect, with a strong Scottish accent. He adds a lovely dash of color to the show.

Set designer John MacKenzie has created a dining room with an elegant classical feel to it, period props and a beautiful landscape backdrop painted by Michelle Boll.

This isn't a perfect play. It dribbles somewhat to its conclusion, and offers more spectacular fireworks, intellectually and sexually, than it does deep meaning or emotional satisfaction. But the Hovey Players prove that it's highly entertaining and mind-expanding at the same time. You can't say that about a lot of theater.

The Hovey Players perform "Arcadia" on Jan. 23, 24 and 29-31 at 8 p.m. and on Jan. 25 at 2 p.m. at the Abbott Theatre, 9 Spring St., Waltham. Tickets cost $15, for seniors $13, and can be reserved by calling 781-893-9171.

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