The Old Vic’s production of Arcadia by Tom Stoppard has a vital component missing. The house. Stoppard’s brilliant historical comedy is set in a country manor owned by the Coverly family and the script examines, among other things, the evolution of decorative taste during the 18th and 19th centuries. But no architecture is present on stage.

The audience has to imagine what the show fails to supply because the Old Vic’s interior has been redesigned ‘in the round’ with a central playing area encircled by pews as seats. This leaves no room for a large-scale set. Arranging the venue like a boxing ring ensures that parts of the action are invisible to parts of the audience. It might have been wiser to use the original ‘end on’ configuration which gives everyone a clear view of the action and allows a designer to convert the playwright’s ideas into reality. Shows performed ‘in the round’ often look patchy and unloved.

The play opens with a tutorial between a handsome scholar, Septimus (Seamus Dillane), and his sparky young pupil, Thomasina (Isis Hainsworth), which becomes a subtle and delicate lesson in sex education. Thomasina has spotted Septimus in a clinch with another man’s wife and she........

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