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By the time of the interval between the first and second acts of 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead', I was panicking. For someone with no prior knowledge of the play, the first reaction was one of utter and complete disorientation; the first act, and indeed most of the play, is little more than a jumble of philosophical introspection and mindless games. How was I to write a legible review for a play I don't even understand?
Just the image of the blinking cursor on a blank page was enough to spur me into scrutinising the play even more closely than I would usually and, finally, I think I understand it. 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern' is, in layman's terms, nonsense, although is it officially classified as absurdist. Though this is beginning to sound like something of a scathing review, it is important to note that it is deliberate nonsense, a play that cleverly reflects the state of the minds of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters in Shakespeare's classic 'Hamlet'; utter confusion with occasional points of startling lucidity. Set in the wings of the "ruined gothic wreckage of a proscenium theatre", the play tells the story of these almost insignificant men whose deaths are nevertheless crucial to the events of one of the most famous plays ever written. Given access only to the short scenes they appear in, Rosencrantz (Tom Hartill) and Guildenstern (Benjamin Blyth) must puzzle out the seemingly random events of the play, sometimes helped and often hindered by a troupe of Tragedians, led by the mysterious Player (Venetia Twigg).
All in all, the production was an inspired re-imagining of a wonderful play, with outstanding performances by Venetia Twigg, Tom Hartill and Benjamin Blyth.
Hannah Bunting
Sudbury Upper School
26th March 2010
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