Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are, in that order, Mr. On a literary level, the work owes almost as much to Samuel Beckett as it does to William Shakespeare and also bears an acknowledged debt to T. Stoppard's mind is like a trompe l'oeil painting. The play is an intellectual comedy, with intricate word plays, colliding contradictions and verbal and visual puns. As they inevitably realize, the only meaning to their lives can come with their deaths. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are classic fall guys, replaceable pawns in the chess game of history. One thing is certain: they are not heroes, although they are martyrs of a kind. To Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, as ultimate outsiders, supporting players in the lives of others, the plot of Shakespeare's play is indecipherable.Īs in an actor's nightmare, the two academic idlers wander around the stage wondering what roles they are supposed to be playing - as messengers, hired assassins or victims. The inspiration for the play begins with the idea of turning ''Hamlet'' inside out. TOM STOPPARD'S virtuosity was immediately apparent in his debut as a playwright with ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,'' something that can be passingly perceived in a 20th-anniversary revival of the play opening last night at the Roundabout Theater Company.
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