Customer Reviews

Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead

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The play is about the two Shakespearean bit players trying to diciefer what there purpose is in the mist of the play Hamlet.
These two fools try to comicaly fight fate to save themselves while at the same time trying to find a purpose in the strange world of shakespeare. I love this perspective of Hamlet. It is truely a comical look at how even the insignifcant look for purpose when often there is none to be found. There is a lot of great diaolog and I had to laugh when Rosencranzt almost stumbles on to his own version of to be or not to be. But he can't quite get started.

They just can't figure out what is going on or what they are supposed to do. The play is full of wit and philosophical banter which plays on Shakespeare and the theater in general. Loved Hamlet and so this play really gets a rise out of me. It may be worth reading Hamlet again if you haven't in a while just to get in the mood of the play. It is basically the story of two guys wondering how they got in the middle of a story they don't understand.

I think shakespeare would have loved to have written this play.

If you are unfamilur with Hamlet read it, if you are read Hamlet again it is a joy, than read this.

Screen plays serve several purposes; when the follow the film closely you get to slowdown and have time to savor the nuances. They also work as an external memory so you can revisit your favorite parts of the story. I could not tell my shoe was untied unless it was pointed out. I use screen plays to point out what I may have overlooked in a moment of contemplation.

This particular book also has a few black & white stills.

The scene closes in on Rosencrantz & Guildenstern or is it Guildenstern & Rosencrantz discussing the odds of a flipped coin coming up heads. What seems to be a casual curiosity is the setting for the eventual outcome of the story. If the names sound familiar then you will recognize them from the play "Hamlet". Their story was never fully told until now.

Through out the film we get snippets of Hamlet and visions of what is to come. The real fun is in the fact that the dialog and the actors could have easily been seamlessly slipped into the original play.

Their play on words not only matches Shakespeare but a good dose of Lewis Carroll; "Toes on the other hand"," Don't you mean the other foot?"

Disperses through the story Rosencrantz (Gary Oldman) makes all the great discoveries from gravity to flight to steam engines and so forth. Every time he goes to show them to Guildenstern (Tim Roth) they are overlooked, or dismissed.

The only person that was a tad over the top, acting like he was acting wad Richard Dreyfuss as the leader of the acting troop. However this is one movie that you can get away with it.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

Stoppard's parody of HAMLET is much more than a mere parody. Although there are plenty of laughs, this text (or the excellently done 1990 film adaptation) will make you question the nature of reality as you view this story on a variety of levels. An incredible study of the nature of storytelling, acting, living, destiny, the universe and everything. A worthwhile read for anyone who has read HAMLET, and if you haven't read HAMLET, then for goodness sake go pick up a copy of that.

I've always thought you had to be in a very peculiar mood to truly enjoy and appreciate Waiting for Godot. It's such a fine balance between tragedy and comedy, it's easy to sway one way or the other, either laughing at them and not caring about them or caring about them too much to laugh at them.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead is the same type of play, but much easier on the reader. There are truly funny, funny scenes in this play, many of them, scenes worthy of Abbott & Costello. Perhaps as a result, it is easier to care about the characters, even as you're laughing at their haplessness, and to echo their philosophic cries into the darkness.

So I think this play outdoes the play it copies. I would rather watch it, or read it, anyway.

A word about the Shakespeare -- sure, it adds to the play to know something about Hamlet, but it's probably not necessary. And I don't really think this "logically follows" after Hamlet, like some kind of sequel. They are very, very different plays. The jumping off point is simply that in Hamlet, "R & G" die deaths that don't really make any sense -- and no one really cares. Perfect philosopical place to start an absurdist play.

There is a clear charm to existentialism that can only be defined as nothingness. One could hardly be faulted for finding the theology and writing style to be dry and repetitive--it is. And that is where its charm lies. The truthfulness and revelation of the human thought pattern is captured by existentialism as no other writing style. While most of the best existentialist pieces are in the form of plays, they are notably more enjoyable to read than to watch. Within this realm of thinking, one of the greatest works is Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a piece derived from the two wayward and tragic messengers of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The entire work seems to be inspired by the scant appearances of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two of Hamlet's trusted friends. At one point during the play, a single line stands out vividly: "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead." In the certainty with which this line is delivered, it is not surprising that it was singled out as the inspiration of another playwright.

The play is the story of how the two men fall into trouble after trouble as they try to complete their errand. It also shows their struggle with their good friend's declining sanity. At the same time, they explore the nature of man through several word games and trials of chance. Throughout the book, scenes of maddeningly circling dialogue is interrupted by "sensible" dialogue from Shakespeare's original. This combination of not only communication styles, but language usage helps to add a confusing effect to the flying dialogue. There are several lines that almost come at you like a pesky bug--"Heads."--and no matter how you swat at them, they stay, and multiply. This very point is indicative of Stoppard's investigation of human nature.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a great piece for someone who already has a firm enjoyment of running in circles and bouncing off one brick wall only to hit another. Though it universally gathers the very essence of life together and displays it in an open forum, it is not something to read/view on a empty stomach. At least a beginning knowledge of existentialism is nearly essential if you hope to be awake by the end of the third page.

Another wonderful play for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern fans is Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett.

I bought this after reading Hamlet at school. I am a weird one and I developed an obsession for rosencrantz and guildenstern so you can imagine how thrilled I was to get this book. However, it resembles Waiting for Godot a LOT, and Waiting for Godot is the superior of the two, so if you only want one Theater of the Absurd, go for Godot...unless you have an unexplainable R & G obssesion like me! Lol.

R&G gets right to the meat of philosophy in a way that is both original and entertaining. Stoppard takes the two least significant doomed characters of "Hamlet" and creatively explores their own universe. His language, his thoughts are all beautiful. I find it has helped me clarify many of my own ideas about life, death, and the significance thereof. DO NOT MISS THIS PLAY! And please do NOT see the film first. You'll understand why after you have read the book.

For those of us, yours included, who absolutely enjoy and revere Hamlet, this is the next logical sequence after reading Hamlet. Although not on the level of Hamlet by any means - but, then again, what is? - Ros and Guil(as called in the play) are Dead proves to be a witty and fun play, nonetheless. With all of the carnage and gratuitous death witnessed in Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern prove undoubtedly the most undeserving victims, and undeniably the most inscrutable and ambiguous characters who face their deaths.

They know virtually nothing of the circumstances and we, in turn, know virtually nothing about them as well. Are they friends of Hamlet at Elsinore to help the troubled Prince in his time of despair while half-heartedly serving the King? Or, conversely, are they conniving duplicitous informers who know about Hamlet's seemingly impending death in England? Stoppard gives intriguing and clever dialogue between our two clueless and unsuspecting heroes. A fun play with a genuine and authentic melange of comedy and intensity. Recommended for all Hamlet enthusiasts - just don't expect the greatness of Shakespeare.

I will keep this review short and sweet.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is a fleshing out of Hamlet by what many consider to be the modern Shakespeare Tom Stoppard. For those unfamiliar with Stoppard's works they run dry and slightly melodramatic the way classic theatre tends too. But Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is one of his exceptions. The piece overflows with humor and charismatic dialogue. While the begging of the show will leave you in stitches, you'll find that as you continue on through the play you begin to care very much for the leads. For those unfamiliar with Hamlet I wont ruin the ending... but the ending is about as moving as can be. I was lucky enough to see this production about a year ago, and while the text is beautiful is strongly suggest seeing the play if you can or even buying the movie.

I think you'll love it as much as I do.

a little more diversity of scenery than arcadia, but every bit as witty, introspective, funny, and engrossing as we've come to expect from the master playwright!

read it!