Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia announced for The Old Vic in London

ARCADIA UPDATE: Arcadia is transferring into the West End, playing at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London from 20 June 2026. Read more about Arcadia in the West End

A revival of Tom Stoppard’s award-winning play Arcadia is coming to The Old Vic in London.

The production will be directed by Carrie Cracknell (Sea Wall/A Life, The Grapes of Wrath), making her Old Vic debut.

Arcadia will run at The Old Vic from 24 January to 21 March 2026.

Written by multi-award-winner Tom Stoppard (Leopoldstadt, The Invention of Love, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Shakespeare in Love), Arcadia will be staged at The Old Vic in-the-round.

Arcadia is part of Old Vic Artistic Director Matthew Warchus’s final season. He said in a statement: “On any list of the greatest plays ever written, Tom Stoppard’s dazzling Arcadia would surely feature prominently. What a pleasure to be welcoming the wonderful Carrie Cracknell to direct this ingenious and frisky masterpiece.”

Joining director Carrie Cracknell in the creative team are Set Design by Alex Eales, Costume Design by Suzanne Cave, Lighting by Guy Hoare, Sound by Donato Wharton, Movement by Ira Mandela Siobhan, Composer Stuart Earl and Casting by Serena Hill CDG.

Further creatives, along with casting, are to be announced.

Arcadia - The Old Vic London. Carrie Cracknell (Photo via PR), Tom Stoppard (Photo by Manuel Harlan) — *Arcadia – The Old Vic London. Carrie Cracknell (Photo via PR), Tom Stoppard (Photo by Manuel Harlan)*

Arcadia is set at the elegant estate owned by the Coverly family.

Shifting back and forth in time between 1809 and the present, the 1809 scenes reveal a household in transition. As the Arcadian landscape is being transformed into picturesque Gothic gardens, complete with a hermitage, thirteen year-old Lady Thomasina and her tutor delve into intellectual and romantic issues of the time.

In the present day, the Coverly descendants and two competing scholars are researching a possible scandal at the estate in 1809 involving Lord Byron.

Arcadia moves between the centuries and explores the nature of truth and time, the difference between classical and romantic temperaments, and the disruptive influence of sex on our lives.

Arcadia premiered at the National Theatre in London in 1993, winning an Olivier Award for Best Play. The production was directed by Trevor Nunn and the cast included Rufus Sewell, Felicity Kendal, Bill Nighy, Emma Fielding, Harriet Walter and Samuel West.

The play last appeared in the West End in 2009 at the Duke of York’s Theatre, directed by David Leveaux, and starring Dan Stevens, and Nancy Carroll.

What’s on at The Old Vic

Currently playing at The Old Vic is Mary Page Marlowe starring Susan Sarandon and Andrea Riseborough, until 1 November.

Up next is the return of The Old Vic’s festive favourite A Christmas Carol, directed by Matthew Warchus and starring Paul Hilton, from 12 November 2025 to 10 January 2026.

Coming to The Old Vic for two performances only on 16 November is Playing Burton, a one-man play about Richard Burton starring Matthew Rhys.