Ah, a play. A romping, theatrical, fun-filled time when actors delight their audiences with dramatic dialogue and punchy tunes.

Although this is true of many stage shows, Tom Stoppard doesn’t allow audiences of his 1993 play, “Arcadia,” to merely sit back and relax.

Instead, those watching must engage their brains and piece together an intellectual mystery.

Before entering the double-doors of the Athens Community Theatre to watch Stoppard’s comedy, please remember to take your mind with you.

That is the cautionary sign that Robert Hall, a Town and Gown Players member who plays the butler, wishes to hang outside the theater.

“Stoppard is an intellectual writer,” Hall said. “His work contains so many layers. Little lines early on will mean volumes later. He is very conscious of what he chooses to reveal or not reveal.”

“Arcadia” was Stoppard’s first foray into the realm of emotions; his previous plays confined themselves to scholarly concerns.

Hailed by critics as “intensely poignant” and “as simple as a perfect cube and as complex as the physics of a breaking wave” when it was first released, “Arcadia” is full of wit and centers entirely on the characters.

Altogether, the piece is quite complicated, taking place in two time frames (1809 and the present) and played by two sets of characters.

They share the same country house, Sidley Park, and sometimes the same stage props, including a tortoise with two different names.

Tom Tanner, the set designer who plays the tutor, called Stoppard a warped yet amusing human being.

“He writes with no wasted words,” Tanner said. “Each time you watch, you catch 20 percent more jokes.”

Ben Teague, the director with a Santa Claus-like beard and eyes that sparkle when speaking about the play, said the tortoise is one of Stoppard’s many amusements.

Stoppard never said whether the tortoise is real or not.

“The characters use the tortoise as a paper weight and a statue,” he said.

“But they feed him apples and give him directions. The nature of the tortoise cannot be distinguished.”

Teague, who has seen “Arcadia” twice before, chose to direct the play because he believes it to be one of the best plays of the 20th century.

He also needed a break from his day job of translating engineering materials from German to English.

“This play is very human,” he said. “You care about these people and are able to laugh at them and sympathize with them.

The modern day characters are trying to reconstruct the past, and you are able to see what mistakes they make and how they come to their conclusions.”

When working with two time periods and two sets of characters, separation is difficult to achieve.

Tanner took the challenge and designed an all- white set to give off the sense of isolation.

“The feel is elegant, almost cold,” he said. “It’s distinctive enough, so that audiences pay attention to the characters and feel a bit of separation from the actors, rather than a connection.”

After two months, the cast of 12, including four University students, is ready to show off perfected British accents and economical movements of 19th century England.

Hall called the cast a people blessed with laughter and said the audience should not feel bad if some of the action is over their heads. This is the way it should be.

“The play is all about misdirection,” he said.

“No matter how well you record what happens, time will turn your memories into a muddle.”