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A review by ejreadswords
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“Do you like being… an actor?”
“No, sir.”
Reading this right after Waiting for Godot, lord. Waiting for the end to come…
“Don’t you see?! We’re actors - we’re the opposite of people!”
This one I found funnier than Waiting for Godot, and I do appreciate how it extends the life (but in a way, offering zero new information about them) of Hamlet’s “friends” Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Their quest is nonsensical and devoid of meaning without Hamlet himself. Their entire purpose is for Hamlet. And the way they get written off by Shakespeare in the original text, well… we need to know what could have been going through their heads on that boat ride to England.
Absurd, funny, and quite sad. Its musings on life, on art, on the futile exercise of acting, on what’s “real” and what’s “not,” and of course, on death, really fired off my imagination.
I suppose I’d have found this play on my own at some point, but reading it so close to my birthday got me confronting my mortality once again. 😅
Lots of good monologues. That Player monologue about actors being the opposite of people is quite good… might add that one or Rosencrantz’s on death to my arsenal. Also couldn't help but picture Daniel Radcliffe so vividly as Rosencrantz.
“No, sir.”
Reading this right after Waiting for Godot, lord. Waiting for the end to come…
“Don’t you see?! We’re actors - we’re the opposite of people!”
This one I found funnier than Waiting for Godot, and I do appreciate how it extends the life (but in a way, offering zero new information about them) of Hamlet’s “friends” Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Their quest is nonsensical and devoid of meaning without Hamlet himself. Their entire purpose is for Hamlet. And the way they get written off by Shakespeare in the original text, well… we need to know what could have been going through their heads on that boat ride to England.
Absurd, funny, and quite sad. Its musings on life, on art, on the futile exercise of acting, on what’s “real” and what’s “not,” and of course, on death, really fired off my imagination.
I suppose I’d have found this play on my own at some point, but reading it so close to my birthday got me confronting my mortality once again. 😅
Lots of good monologues. That Player monologue about actors being the opposite of people is quite good… might add that one or Rosencrantz’s on death to my arsenal. Also couldn't help but picture Daniel Radcliffe so vividly as Rosencrantz.