Volume 42, Number 10 · June 8, 1995
Twice Around the Grounds
By Anne Barton
Arcadia
a play by Tom Stoppard, directed by Trevor Nunn
at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, New York City
Arcadia
by Tom Stoppard
Faber and Faber, 97 pp., $8.95 (paper)
In Headlong Hall, the earliest of Peacock's satirical novels, a motley collection of guests assembles at Squire Headlong's country estate for the Christmas season. Among them are Mr. Gall, the vitriolic reviewer, Philomela Poppyseed, the best-selling novelist, the poet Nightshade, Marmaduke Milestone, the landscape architect and 'improver' of gentlemen's grounds, Mr. Cranium, exponent of the new 'science' of phrenology, and his lovely daughter Cephalis, Mr. Escot, the embattled vegetarian and believer in the steady deterioration of the world, and his opponent Mr. Foster, who maintains that mankind is progressing steadily toward perfection.
Review, 4545 words
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