Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead - A Play, (Paperback)

from janerawoof

The author has taken two unimportant [dare I say expendable?] characters from Hamlet, turned Hamlet on its head and made these two [Ros and Guil, as the author calls them] the main actors: more than a mere plot point in the original. Also, the Player [leader of the travelling theatrical troupe of...

from Juva

Hamlet retold through the point of view of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two extremely minor characters who end up dead for no particular reason. Stoppard uses this rich canvas to closely examine themes of time, memory, and mortality. What is it like to be caught up in the torrent of a story and ...

from Cariola

A reread for me; I'm teaching it alongside [Hamlet] in my Honors course. It's a bit of a philosophical puzzle, as well as a hilariously dark existentialist comedy. What exactly is Stoppard trying to do here? Is he merely deconstructing a classic play? Or making a comment on fate and our lack of c...

from davadog13

Fantastic play, instantly one of my favorites. It is to Hamlet what Fool is to King Lear. Except better written. I love the idea of these characters feeling completely lost whenever they aren't specifically a part of the action of Hamlet. Add to this the fact that there is quite a bit of philosop...

from Sandyflippers

Tom Stoppard's play "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead" undeniably fits under the theatre of the absurd genre. Everything in this play - from identity to location- is completely interchangeable and therefore meaningless. The play opens with Ros and Guild betting heads and tails on coins, with...