Et in Arcadia Ego
A painting by Nicholas Poussin, the heading for Book One of Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, this powerful phrase, reminding us of the presence of death even in an earthly paradise, was the starting point for the most recent session of the Year 11 Colloquium. Swiftly moving into a history of landscape gardening from geometric formalism to Capability Brown and then the Picturesque / Gothic influences, a scene was being set. Looking then at a stage set, which seemed capable of revolving, the students thought about concepts of things revolving through space and of course time. But where was all this heading? Towards an examination of one of Sir Tom Stoppard’s greatest plays, recently revived in London, Arcadia. All this and only a brief mention of the Maths and Physics to come.
