Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead!

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 1:49am

Has anyone seen or read this play by Tom Stoppard? Vancouver's "Bard On The Beach" festival is performing "Love's Labour's Lost" (which I saw today), "As You Like It", "Hamlet" and "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" to complement the latter.

A brief synopsis:

Tom Stoppard's Tony award-winning contemporary comedy places two of Hamlet's most intriguing characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, in the limelight. Through the amusing adventures of Hamlet's two college chums, Stoppard takes us behind the scenes in Shakespeare's great tragedy and provides an existential view of the human condition. After musing over life’s odds, the friends are transported to Elsinore where they meet with Claudius, Gertrude, Hamlet and the Players and become both audience and actors in the drama that unfolds at the Danish court.

I've just put a copy of the play on hold at the library, and I'm hoping to see both Hamlet and R&G in the next couple of weeks. I'd be interested to hear what people think and have heard about it. I'm not too familiar with Tom Stoppard's work, just "The Real Thing".

[mollyllom]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 1:54am

It rocks. It's awesome. Go see it.

Posted: 6/18/05 at 7:14am

i was in R&G once and then i saw it another time

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 8:28am

A brilliant early play by Stoppard. The verbal pyrotechnics can be dazzling. You'll never think of Hamlet in the same way after.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 11:47am

I've read this play several times (it was on the reading list of several courses I was taking). It could be described as Beckett meets Shakespeare, with a bit of Pirandello (SIX CHARACTES IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR) thrown in there -- it's very much like something from the Theatre of the Absurd, but "in the wings" of HAMLET.

Like a lot of Absurdist drama, I find it's something to appreciate more than outright enjoy (since nothing really happens as the performance unfolds, it's just a series of rhetorical games R & G keep playing with each other). But the clownish humour is rather fun, and it's an interesting exercise in deconstructing Shakespeare and questioning your reality.

The film version is quite good (Stoppard directed it himself), with Gary Oldman and Tim Roth. Of course, the fact that it was made into a film opens up all kinds of issues about the metatheatricality of the play, but that's another thread.

[wildcat]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 12:04pm

I couldn't bear the film. I'd recommend reading or seeing the play live.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 12:06pm

it's one of my absolute favorite plays...it's HILARIOUS. I mean, that's really the draw of most absurdist/existentialist stuff since nothing really happens :0)


The movie's good too, but that's mostly 'cause Tim Roth is AMAZING.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 12:08pm

it's hilarious in my opinion. so so funny. it also is really enjoyable in the context of watching hamlet as well.

[Necromancer07707]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 12:26pm

Alot of monologue books suggest using using R&G.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 12:45pm

I tried watching the movie on TV once....at least I think it was that. I fell asleep

[Sally]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 3:29pm

I saw the play years ago and loved it----went out and bought the play to read. I still think of the coin-tossing scene from time to time for some reason.

I haven't seen the film.

Posted: 6/18/05 at 3:34pm

Thank you, moderators, for moving this thread from the OT board where it was buried and dying to the Main board where it so deservedly belongs.


While not particularly a Stoppard fan myself, I was totally enraptured by his INVENTION OF LOVE. Saw it twice, read it twice, and will read again. Terrific play, that.

[Marquise]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 3:51pm

rosencrantz and guildenstern. didn't they own a deli on the lower east side?

[lovettespies]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 6:40pm

It's ana amazing plan. Just... incredible

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 6:46pm

"rosencrantz and guildenstern. didn't they own a deli on the lower east side?"

Yes. but now they are DEAD!

[Bal]

Posted: 6/18/05 at 9:37pm

*I'm looking forward to that one too, Tiff! I hope I can see it before my New York trip. :-/

Ah, Bard on the Beach. Best tent Shakespeare ever.

/threadjack

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 2:24pm

I am a big fan of Stoppard and this play really put him on the map for a lot of people. It's silly, but being Stoppard, you really have to flex your brain (so to speak) to get how silly it really is. I recently revisited the film for ideas for a poster I was asked to design for a high school production coming up this Fall (this would be a shameless plug if I had anything to gain from it.)



The film may be minorly flawed, but I definitely recommend it if a live production isn't available in your area. While it is a mental exercise as much as a play, it is much more rewarding if you're familiar with Hamlet. I would suggest reading or reviewing Hamlet, then seeing R&G, then catching Hamlet again. You will be struck by the odd nature of those two characters is Shakespeare's play, sort of thrown into the show without any backstory or motivation for what they're doing. As has been said, you will never look at Hamlet the same again.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 2:47pm

That's a great poster, Ourtime.

[CurtainUp]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 5:34pm

It's absolutely brilliant. It makes more sense if you're familiar with Hamlet, but it's amazing either way. I don't remember my thought being so provoked. We had just read Hamlet in English and then read this and analyzed a piece of it and...it's just stunning work. A buddy and I, who are the same but opposite, call each other R & G, because we fell in love with this play so much.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 6/20/05 at 1:46am

Thanks for the input, all. (I was going to put this on the main board originally, but figured since it wasn't technically a Broadway play, it would get booted to the OT anyway.) I haven't read "Invention Of Love", but I'm waiting for it on hold for me, along with "R&G" and "Hapgood". I'm looking forward to this Bard season, at the very least because it's the first time there have been 4 plays produced simultaneously, and it's a financial risk to do a show like "R&G" (albeit on the smaller stage) instead of the tried-and-true pay-off plays. The last time this company did a non-Shakespeare but Shakespeare-related show was for "Shylock" a few years ago, which didn't receive a very good response. (Neither did "Merchant Of Venice", for that matter.)

I found it interesting that the entire cast for this "Hamlet" production will be doing the same roles for "R&G" - except for the actors playing R&G, who will switch and do the opposite role. I wondered if this was just to keep things interesting for the actors, or if there was an artistic motivation in this decision. R&G seem pretty interchangable in "Hamlet".

Posted: 6/20/05 at 2:04am

R&G and Fortinbras are my favorite Hamlet spin offs.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/20/05 at 2:12am

my best friend performed a scene from this play with her drama class and it was frikin' hilarious. go see it...

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 6/20/05 at 2:26am

One reason they may be switching roles is that the two characters are constantly checking with each about which character they are, because even they aren't sure which is which. Having them swap for the festival may be a way of reinforcing the silly confusion for the audience as well.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 6/20/05 at 11:22am

I wondered if this was just to keep things interesting for the actors, or if there was an artistic motivation in this decision. R&G seem pretty interchangable in "Hamlet".

Exactly. It's pretty arbitrary which one is Rosencrantz and which one is Guildenstern, and the two themselves often forget which one is which.