Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

by Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard's Tony award-winning comedy imagines Shakespeare's greatest tragedy from the point of view of two of Hamlet's most intriguing characters. Summoned by the King and Queen of Denmark to "glean what afflicts" the despondent Prince Hamlet, they are swallowed by the political maneuverings surrounding them- set loose in a world of existentialism and vaudeville, with no memory of what they're doing and no clue to who they are. It's either an uproariously hilarious tragedy or the world's most depressing comic farce.

Tom Stoppard is a master of comic invention and remarkably witty wordplay. He uses his considerable skills to investigate philosophical questions in an extremely entertaining manner. No contemporary playwright has been as successful as Stoppard in creating what have been termed "serious comedies." His efforts have been recognized with many awards, including three Tonys. His most famous plays include Jumpers, Travesties, The Real Thing, Arcadia, and The Invention of Love. His screenwriting credits include Brazil, The Russia House, and Shakespeare in Love (for which he won an Academy Award in 1999).

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead kicks off TheatreZone's Actor's Revenge, a festival of actor selected plays. This fall we invited actors to submit proposals for a production they would star in, which were judged by a panel of fellow actors and audience regulars solely on the quality of the actor's past work and their passion for the production. Now, for the first time, some of the finest actors who have worked with TheatreZone over the years have a chance to call the shots! They pick the play, the director, the approach, and cast themselves in the role of their dreams.

Actor Stephen Libby (Cooking with Elvis, Anger Box) proposed R&G and will play the role of Rosencrantz. Libby brings ample experience with Shakespeare's minor characters to the role, having spent the last year performing Romeo and Juliet with Shakespeare and Co., both on-tour and at their home base. He was seen as everyone from Peter to Lord Capulet to a brief appearance as the back of the Nurse. He also fought someone using a large ham as a sword. He also played minor characters in the Publick's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and chose Devon Jencks, who played Helena in that production, to direct.

March 3-12, 2005
Chelsea Theatre Works

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Not Your Average Elizabeth Parody

By Colin Kelly

Published: Thursday, March 10, 2005

Rosenwho and Guildenwhat?

Imagine a world in which you are unwillingly thrust into odd situations where you are required to make judgments based on nothing but memory, instinct, and speculation - where you must wait for events to unfold themselves and reveal to you your next course of action. Sound familiar? Well, it should: it's called life.

Inside the hole-in-the-wall Chelsea Theatre Works, located in Chelsea, oddly enough, TheatreZone is now showing their production of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The play deals with the plot of Shakespeare's Hamlet...sort of. Essentially, it is a retelling of Hamlet, but from the point of view of the Elizabethan tragedy's two most insignificant characters: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet's friends from school. These two bumbling but loveable German students (speaking in perfect English, naturally) gradually make their way to Hamlet's castle in Denmark where they are forced by Hamlet's uncle, the king, to discover what's making the melancholy Dane so gosh darned melancholy in the first place. Then they are sent with Hamlet to England, where through a series of unfortunate events they...well, the title pretty much gives away the ending.

During their adventures, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, played by Stephen Libby and Jason Dionne-or is it Jason Dionne and Stephen Libby? Honestly, I don't know which one is Rosencrantz and which one is Guildenstern, and the pamphlet only listed that Rosencrantz was played by Stephen Libby and Guildenstern by Jason Dionne, but I had a hard time figuring out who was who. In fact, I don't even know now, and neither do the two characters, which is part of the charm of this play. Anyways, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, or Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, are well aware that they are minor players in the events in which they are involved, a concept offset by a sexually ambiguous troupe of actors-turned-prostitutes who, with their bawdy gesturing and crude home-spun logic, underscore the futility of all the foolish assumptions and philosophic questions posed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

But despite their best efforts to exert some sort of control over the situation that they have stumbled into, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern never have any real affect on the larger situation taking place around them (The Tragedy of Hamlet) but instead can only influence, micromanage even, their own immediate personal situation, a small movement inside of a much larger movement, as Rosencrantz or Guildenstern elegantly spoke towards the play's finale. Through a metaphorical insinuation, Stoppard (with a little help from Waiting For Godot) attempts to show, through the absurdity of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's situation, the ridiculousness of the human condition in general. Or you know, whatever. Did I mention it's a comedy?

But a good script ain't nothin' without good actors to do it justice, and the thespians over at TheatreZone do just that. Stephen Libby and Jason Dionne are an instant success as a comic duo, with all the chemistry of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, except without the singing and dancing. Eve Paselltiner came about as close to stealing the show as any of the actors could with her role as the leader of the ribald troupe of players. The supporting cast was flawless as anything I'd ever seen and there was not a dull one in the bunch.

If you're looking for a laugh-out-loud saucy evening at the theatre then I would highly recommend that you head over to Chelsea Theatre Works and take in a performance of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead runs through March 12. Tickets are $18 at the door, $15 in advance or on Thursdays tickets are $12 at the door, $10 in advance. Call 617/887-2336 or go to www.theatrezone.org for more info.

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