Tom Stoppard is a staggeringly brilliant playwright! The somewhat Georgian symmetry of the stage set belies the chaos of the intersection of ideas and times that will play out across the space until some order is restored and most questions are answered.
The play slips seamlessly between two periods 200 years apart while dealing with the transition from classical to romantic sensibility, the 2nd law of thermodynamics, chaos theory, ambition and human infidelity – it could only be conceived by a giant intellect.
This Sydney Theatre Company production revelled in the challenge of staging two times concurrently and Ryan Corr was perfectly convincing as the tutor, Septimus. I heard every word he uttered. The other leads were excellent too, although some voices got a little lost at times when they spoke from the back of the stage.
For more information about the production see Kate Hennessy’s article in the Guardian, although I don’t agree that the play was as flat as she suggests. I was intrigued from the start, marveled at the play’s ingenuity and delighted in Stoppard’s wit, jokes and funny moments.