"Arkadia"

"Arkadia"
by Tom Stoppard; translated by Pål Løkkeberg
Premiere 9 February 1995
Nationaltheatret Hovedscenen
Genre: Drama

Directed by Pål Løkkeberg

Cast includes:

Laila Goody as Thomasina Coverly
Øystein Røger as Septimus Hodge
...
Anne Katharine Krigsvoll as Hannah Jarvis
...
Sverre Anker Ousdal as Bernard Nightingale

[From Act Two, Scene 5: BERNARD NIGHTINGALE, an academic overly eager for publication, is reading his proposed lecture about Byron having killed a man in a duel over a woman, to a somewhat dubious audience.]
HANNAH. Borrowed?
BERNARD. I will be taking questions at the end. Constructive comments will be welcome. Which is indeed my reason for trying out in the provinces before my London opening under the auspices of the Byron Society prior to publication. By the way, Valentine, do you want a credit? -- 'the game book recently discovered by.'?
VALENTINE. It was never lost, Bernard.
BERNARD. 'As recently pointed out by.' I don't normally like giving credit where it's due, but with scholarly articles as with divorce, there is a certain cachet in citing a member of the aristocracy. I'll pop it in ad lib for the lecture, and give you a mention in the press release. How's that?
VALENTINE. Very kind.
HANNAH. Press release? What happened to the Journal of English Studies?
BERNARD. That comes later with the apparatus, and in the recognized tone -- very dry, very modest, absolutely gloat-free, and yet unmistakeably 'Eat your heart out, you dozy bastards.' But first, it's 'Media Don, book early to avoid disappointment.' Where was I?
VALENTINE. Game book.
CHLOË. Eros.
HANNAH. Borrowed.
BERNARD. Right. '-- borrowed from Septimus Hodge. Is it conceivable that the letters were already in the book when Byron borrowed it?'
VALENTINE. Yes.
CHLOË. Shut up, Val.
VALENTINE. Well, it's conceivable.
BERNARD. 'Is it likely that Hodge would have lent Byron the book without first removing the three private letters?'
VALENTINE. Look, sorry -- I only meant, Byron could have borrowed the book without asking.
HANNAH. That's true.
BERNARD. Then why wouldn't Hodge get them back?
HANNAH. I don't know, I wasn't there.
BERNARD. That's right, you bloody weren't.
CHLOË. Go on, Bernard.