{"id":1120,"date":"2014-12-17T14:13:58","date_gmt":"2014-12-17T19:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/?p=1120"},"modified":"2014-12-17T14:13:58","modified_gmt":"2014-12-17T19:13:58","slug":"field-work-arcadia-and-cold-coffee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/2014\/12\/17\/field-work-arcadia-and-cold-coffee\/","title":{"rendered":"Field Work: Arcadia and Cold Coffee"},"content":{"rendered":"<script>fsg_json['fsg_post_1120'] = [\n{id: 1121, image: 'http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/files\/2014\/12\/turtles-baby-predation_480x360.jpg', extlink: '', thumb: 'https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/files\/2014\/12\/turtles-baby-predation_480x360-290x290.jpg', permalink: '<div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/2014\/12\/17\/field-work-arcadia-and-cold-coffee\/turtles-baby-predation_480x360\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div>', layer: '<div class=\"galleria-infolayer\"><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><h1>Baby turtle<\/h1><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/2014\/12\/17\/field-work-arcadia-and-cold-coffee\/turtles-baby-predation_480x360\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><\/div>'}\n];<\/script>\n<div id=\"attachment_1121\" style=\"width: 277px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a data-postid=\"fsg_post_1120\" data-imgid=\"1121\" href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/files\/2014\/12\/turtles-baby-predation_480x360.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1121\" class=\"wp-image-1121 \" src=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/files\/2014\/12\/turtles-baby-predation_480x360-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Baby turtle via National Geographic. The turtle was a recurring motif throughout the play. \" width=\"267\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/files\/2014\/12\/turtles-baby-predation_480x360-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/files\/2014\/12\/turtles-baby-predation_480x360.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 267px) 100vw, 267px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1121\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Baby turtle via National Geographic. The turtle was a recurring motif throughout the play.<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><i>&#8216;It\u2019s the best time to be alive. When almost everything you thought you knew is wrong.&#8217;<\/i> If questioning isn\u2019t scary, then we\u2019re not making the right questions. And it\u2019s not to say any question is fundamentally right or wrong, but some of them will simply lead us to more questions and less answers, and perhaps that\u2019s what we should go for. At least that\u2019s how I felt after watching <i>Arcadia<\/i> last Thursday.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">On December 4-6, Tom Stoppard\u2019s <i>Arcadia<\/i> was presented at The Martel Theater. The play, directed by Christopher Grabowski, was an incredibly dynamic and thought-provoking blend of realities. The story is set in a country house, in both past and present time. A long table serves as a setting for instruction and leisure, where the audience is able to witness the intellectual progression of Septimus Hodge\u2019s pupil, Thomasina Coverly. She is presented as a witty, curious and insightful individual who battles her mother\u2019s imposed desires of propriety, as well as Hodge\u2019s discouraging response to her diversions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Thomasina is clear about what she wants. She refuses the subjects that bore her and indulges in those that please her. The idea of being the first person to come up with concepts excites her, and when not being patronising, Hodge genuinely admires Thomasina.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">After this introduction\u00a0of events the audience is brought to the present time, to a house where a writer, Hannah Jarvis, is investigating the life of a hermit that used to live in the same estate as her. However, her efforts are interrupted when a journalist deceitfully infringes the premises of the country house to seek Hannah\u2019s help. He\u2019s engrossed in Byron\u2019s life and mysterious death. After presenting his case to Hannah, they begin to work together towards the discovery of the actual unfolding of events. They base their research on evidence that is simultaneously used whenever the past converges with the present. One moment Hodge receives an accusatory note, and the next, Bernard Nightingale (the journalist) is presenting it to Hannah as part of his findings.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">This artful trespassing of time and space is explained in a way by Valentine Coverly, who\u2019s a postgraduate student in mathematical biology. It is his understanding that Thomasina developed an algorithm in which the outcome of a function became the starting value for the next equation; the results infinitely fed into a system. He develops this algorithm virtually, and shows the audience a sequence of patterns with a kaleidoscopic quality. As he explains this, he breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience to explain his philosophical deliberations. I felt completely engaged at this point\u2013Valentine was able to not only expose\u00a0a subject that existed in the same time and space as the audience did, but he made of the narrative a discourse that refused to remain in within the confines of the stage.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Ultimately, what really stuck with me was Valentine\u2019s fascination with Thomasina\u2019s insight. He built on her work and explored it further. He took a cup of coffee and observed that time moves forward, always forward. And just as the coffee was gradually losing heat, so was everything else. &#8216;<i>We\u2019re all ending up at room temperature, it\u2019s a one way street.&#8217;<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;It\u2019s the best time to be alive. When almost everything you thought you knew is wrong.&#8217; If questioning isn\u2019t scary, then we\u2019re not making the right questions. And it\u2019s not <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/2014\/12\/17\/field-work-arcadia-and-cold-coffee\/\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"sr-only\">Read more about Field Work: Arcadia and Cold Coffee<\/span>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4232,"featured_media":1121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[241],"class_list":["post-1120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-performance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1120"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1147,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions\/1147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/creativearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}