Arcadia

So I met with a friend of a friend’s son who wants to attend NYU.  This is his DREAM school.  I love NYU, don’t get me wrong, but high school students out there, note: there are a lot of great schools out there, not just one.  If you don’t get into your top rated school, you will survive!  Sorry, needed to get that out there.  OK.  I said this before and I will say it again (hopefully not too often), but a play is not a favorite book.  There is just way too much missing, especially for someone like me with an MFA in Directing.  It’s almost like being teased reading a play and not experiencing it live.  Arcadia by Tom Stoppard…. I guess it is ok.  Not a real fan of period pieces AND current day in the same story on stage!  Throw in Lord Byron, a love affair, hidden stories, educational snobbery and well, what else?  1809 to 1993 back to 1809 to 1993... you get the idea.  Same set, leave the same props on stage.  I started to picture it, but got frustrated I was reading someone’s favorite book.  This is hard, especially when I am listening to a book on tape (just started) that I’m REALLY liking – hope to finish it this week, stay tuned – oops, yeah Arcadia, hummm…  Byron left a book behind that we didn’t know about – never published, hidden at a country house in Derbyshire – not even a fan of Byron’s work either.  OK – sorry theatre lovers, I love plays, don’t get me wrong, but I ask RAs for their favorite book???  All actors should have a favorite book too, you know.   The melodrama of the scenes from 1809 annoyed me, one of my least favorite period for plays so almost everything is stacked against me liking this from the start.  I actually like some of Stoppard’s works.  Take a pass on this one.  I may try and see it when the production comes around and will update this blog entry at that point in time.