Though that's not even the best line in Arcadia, which is unquestionably:
Mr. Chater, you are a welcome guest at Sidley Park, but while you are one, The Castle of Otranto was written by whomsoever I say it was, otherwise what is the point of being a guest or having one?
"We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march."
Happy birthday and long life to the master!
Saw it with Robert Sean Leonard (who was excellent) and Richard Easton (who was transcendent) with the then-girlfriend-now-wife. Remarkable production; still not sure that I love the play as a whole.
It’s funny what sticks with you. There’s a solo scene with older Houseman leading a lecture on translating, encouraging and mocking his students as they offer suggestions, and finally reciting his own translation that — as someone with religious attachment to sacred literature — I found enthralling.
