Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Tom Stoppard’s expansion on the roles of two minor characters from Hamlet was clearly written thoughtfully, contemplating some of the small and the large — but mostly the small — conundra that pervade any human life.  But it contains many moments of deadpan humour.  These moments — indeed, the entire performance by the eponymous lead characters — being clearly intended to take the audience unaware through their placement and understated tone, it was a brave decision to caricature the characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and those of a couple of members of a troupe of players and mummers, and especially to cast a woman to caricature walking and other mannerisms inherent to male anatomy.

I’m not certain that handling the play in this way conveys Stoppard’s humour, or indeed thoughts, as intended, but it did succeed in keeping it from being an overly quiet experience.  It didn’t help shorten what was an overly long play that could benefit by some cuts in repetition; but, after rest and recuperation following the opening act, the play becomes distinctly more interesting in its second and third acts, and many of its jokes evoked opening-night audience members’ laughter.

The minimal set design suiting the ethereal setting of the first two acts was nicely offset by costume colour and variety — by and large very interesting and seemingly authentic, as was the soundtrack that filled in time before acts.

All in all, as an unexpected take on a quiet piece, this is a production that I’m sure many will appreciate.

John P. Harvey

Image:  (L–R) Lainie Hart, Arran McKenna, and Josh Wiseman, in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.  Photographer: Ross Gould.