Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
#0Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:19pmI just finished reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard. I found this to be one of the creepiest, funniest, saddest most out of body pieces of literature I've read. Especially the Questions game. What are your thoughts?
#1re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:27pmI read the play senior year of high school and thought it was amazing. I bought it on DVD after that. I don't know if you've seen the movie, but I particularly love the Questions scene where they rally back and forth on the court, it kind of looks like a tennis court. I wish I had some more literary discussion to add, but it was two years ago that I read it. I agree though, it's quite good!
#2re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:37pmWhat I love is that there is basically no antagonist. It reminds me of Waiting for Godot at times.
#3re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:43pm
What did you think of the scenes at the first with flipping the coin? I remeber discussing it as, that it comes up as heads all the time shows that nothing in R & G's lives is chance and that everything is already scripted. I remember when they have a discussion about the existence or lack of free will. It seems like one of the characters (Guildenstern?) just wanted to go home and forget everything, but the other one insisted that they could go forward and change their fate. My analysis is quite fuzzy, but I'm working on it! 
BSoBW2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
#4re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:44pm
One of my firends staged a scene from it.
I'm sure it's better when you watch the whole thing.
IT is an interesting concept though.
#5re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:46pmWell I was so confused by it. I thought that they were establishing the fact that fate is not in their hands and whether they want it to be Heads or Tails it is going to be Heads either way and nothing they can do will change that. Then the moment that the coin comes up Tails their fate changes and they are in the castle speaking to Gertrude and Claudius about Hamlet. Basically, just like the outcome of the coin, no matter what they do they can't change fate. Fate will change when it wants to.
#6re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:56pmHaha, everytime I think of this book, I remember back to senior English. We had that girl that's in everyone's english class in high school, the one that thinks she is Shakespeare's reincarnate (sans manhood), and that she can interpret every piece of literature on Earth. She said something to the effect of, "The coin means that money doesn't matter to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern because they just throw it around." I thought that was a pretty crap-tacular analysis seeing as how it had no bearing whatsoever on anything else going on in the book. It's okay though, I later found out she fell out of the "Stupid" tree and hit every branch on the way down.
#7re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:58pmI get like that sometimes, then I have to gently remind myself how much left there is to read. I was so freaked out at the end of R+G where they just disappear. They serve their purpose and then they're gone! Creepy.
#8re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 3:02pm
I suppose I should put some sort of spoiler warning here in case anyone is inspired by the discussion to go read the book.
So here ya go **SPOILER**
Yeah, that is really creepy. I can't remember, is it the same in the book as it is with the movie, where the nooses drop down and their bodies are just kinda hanging there?
#9re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 3:06pmNope. In the book they just...disappear. They fade away. I was reading that they are already dead at the beginning of the play.
#10re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 3:14pmHmm, that's interesting that they may be dead at the beginning. I've never heard that interpretation but I suppose it could be argued. I really need to watch and read that again, as soon as this year is over and summer break is here, I'll catch up on my "Theatre of the Absurd" readings!
#11re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 3:15pmSplendid! It's sad that only 3 people have participated in the discussion of a great piece of theatre.
antman
Swing Joined: 4/23/06
#12re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 3:16pm
We just did Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for the Fall Play at my high school. I was the assistant director and it was a really amazing production. Except that Guildenstern was played by a girl and the player was split into two characters; one played by a girl and one by a boy, but everything worked out fine. It's a really beautiful piece of work but it took forever to read through it because everytime we didn't know what the real meaning of something was(pratically every other line) we had to stop to discuss what it meant and then we had to watch the movie and the 4 hour Hamlet and Waiting for Godot before we could start rehearsing. We cut some stuff out so it wouldn't be ridicoulusly long, but it still ended up at about three hours. We also added in a lot of lines from Shakespeare for characters like Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, and Olphelia could walk through reciting things while a scene would be happening downstage with Ros + Gil. Overall the production was a sucess because it was a wonderful show, but it wasn't a very financial sucess becasue I guess we realized most people don't want to see existentialist absurdism.
PS One night the lights randomly went out and then on again(thanks to the ghosts in our light booth) and then Ros just goes "You know, sometimes that just happens here in Ettinsmoor, must be one of those quickly moving storms."
#13re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 3:20pmIt's a very difficult play to read in your head. I found myself speaking it outloud most of the time. Especially the "Questions" scene which was just brilliant fun.
#14re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 3:49pmThe Questions game has become a common pasttime for my roommates and me, especially when we're all sitting around avoiding doing any work. It's quite fun, and I feel smart because it's featured in a play! Kill two birds with one stone! Oh, and I love the Player. I'm not entirely sure why, but it's a great character. Also, as a random side note, Guildenstern is my favorite of the two.
#15re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 3:52pmThe player reminded me of the leading player from Pippin. The entire "play within a play" conceit reminded me quite a bit of Pippin, especially the end.
#16re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:44pmBump! Anyone else read this?
#17re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:54pm
Aww, I guess we'll have to keep the discussion alive. I went bowling tonight, so I wasn't able to contribute. I'm writing a paper right now, but I'd rather talk about this. I agree with the parallel between the "players" from the play and from Pippin. I love "play within a play" concepts. Our university did a production of "Noises Off!" recently, and I was skeptical. However, it was phenomenal and I laughed until I cried. But anyhow, back to R & G. I thought about it today, and I think I would have a hard time believing they were dead at the beginning, though I do think that their existence is portrayed as just another piece in the puzzle. This is kind of how I look at it: When you put a puzzle together, each piece is necessary, but once it's put together, like when R & G did what they needed to do, the pieces disappear, like they do, and it becomes on big scene. Either that's really deep or I haven't been sleeping enough!
#18re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:58pmNo baby that's deep! I think they just can't handle being major characters, it makes them uncomfortable so the second they are relieved of that duty, their natural instinct as characters made by Shakespeare and Stoppards hands is to fade away and disappear.
#19re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 11:10pmYup yup, I concur! Minor threadjack here: I don't know what your avatar is, but something about it is delightfully zany...and this is the point where I've been writing so much BS for my paper that I want to fade away like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. ::Cue Absurdity fade::
#20re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 11:11pmIt's me in my schools musical revue I sang "Betrayed"
#21re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 11:14pm
OOOOO! R&G are Dead!
LOVED IT! Read it senior year of high-school (3 years ago) and was the only kid who'd literally burst out laughing in the middle of class because I found it hilarious.
It takes a special kind of literature-lover to appreciate that play. It's definitely not a light or easy piece of drama to read but definitely has remarkable rewards for those who enjoy it.
#22re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 11:16pm
Ah, well, keep up the good work, pip pip, cheerio. Too bad no one else had anything to say about the play, I think I've got all the analysis I could muster.
**EDIT** Yay, someone else said something! w00t!
Updated On: 4/23/06 at 11:16 PM
#23re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 11:22pmEug, what did you make out of it? Especially the coins and I didn't know what to make of R+G forgetting who they are.
#24re: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Discussion
Posted: 4/23/06 at 11:33pm
Love this show!
I did a student production of it in high school. It's hillarious yet very serious and eerie. It can also be done many different ways.
::shows her R+G love!::
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