Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Overview

Have you ever watched a play a wondered what its supporting characters were doing while not on stage? Would they be talking about the actions of the main characters, or simply going about their normal business until fate (or the playwright) requires them to make another entrance? Tom Stoppard has certainly considered these notions in his play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

If you're a Shakespeare buff, those names may sound familiar; they are two courtiers who appear in Hamlet.  Childhood friends of the prince of Denmark, they get drawn into the machinations of Hamlet’s intended execution, but instead meet their own untimely end. Stoppard focuses on the actions and conversations of these characters as they might exist in the unseen parts of the world of the play. They wax philosophical in this absurdist, existential tragicomedy, rambling on with nonsensical jargon, playing Questions, and reflecting on the nature of reality… while they are not ‘on stage’, of course.

The show is being staged by the Brisbane Arts Theatre, and is directed by Natasha Kapper. The play originally debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1966, and since then has become very popular. This piece of meta-theatre is waiting for you. Don't miss it!