Name: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
ISBN: 9780802126214

Tom Stoppard

A new, beautiful updated edition of Tom Stoppard s best-loved play and one of Grove Atlantic s bestselling backlist titles, published with a new introduction by Tom Stoppard to coincide with the 50th anniversary of its debut"

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a play which, as it were, takes place in the wings of Hamlet, and finds both humour and poignancy in the situation of the ill-fated attendant lords. The National Theatre production in April 1967 made Tom Stoppard's reputation virtually overnight. Its wit, stagecraft and verbal verve remain as exhilarating as they were then and the play has become a contemporary classic. 'One of the most original and engaging of post-war plays.' Daily Telegraph

giving this play five stars isn’t enough i need to give rosencrantz a kiss on the lips

eden ☮

Two minor characters from "Hamlet" offer a novel view of the melancholy Dane

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead

Faith Ho 

much drama but also much confusion owing to not enough braincells 

surprisingly entertaining - rosencratz and guildenstern make for an absurd, nonsensical, yet amusing pair. 

it's a very meta play - "audiences know what to expect, and that is all that they are prepared to believe in." - with this literally being a fanfiction of shakespeare's "hamlet" (fanfiction.net cld never) focusing on these two characters. 

intrigued enough to read up a bit more about. some additional reflections: the core of the story about these two characters navigating this uncomprehensible world (is there an order, what is sense, who are they? and the strangeness not just of the world but the games and things they play in it, e.g. the play starts with the game of coin toss and the almost impossible chance of so many consecutive heads; plays with this motif of impossibility, fate, beginnings and ends). tdy learnt about actor/playwright interchangeable roles, rlly seen in the interlacing, dynamic way characters play off one another.

Haylie

There was some deeper meaning in the book that I appreciate and I love R&G, but it wasn't written well in my opinion.

Harry L

Interesting and entertaining. Stoppard's writing is brilliant: full of witticisms which seem light-hearted but upon reflection are revelatory. Aware of an incredibly intelligent brain behind the whole thing - can't lose concentration for a second or you feel you'll lose the thread!
Hope to be able to see a production of it in future. 

Now need to go read some more of Stoppard's work, probably starting with Arcadia.

Safiya 

Half of it made sense and the other half made me feel intrusive... All in all, poignantly and ingeniously absurd..

Mia Hernandez 

This was a quick read and having read hamlet (years ago) and watched Ophelia recently before reading, made it a lot easier to recall and make connections about what was going on it. There were times where it gets very fast paced and funny. But being a fan of hamlet and it’s characters, I’m a big fan of this work as well. 

Eugenia Andino

Hubo una época en la que el teatro del absurdo me encantaba y esta obra de teatro habría sido de mis lecturas favoritas. Ahora me aburre y me impacienta. Todos cambiamos.

Acclaimed as a modern dramatic masterpiece, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead is the fabulously inventive tale of Hamlet as told from the worm’s-eve view of the bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters in Shakespeare’s play. In Tom Stoppard’s best-known work, this Shakespearean Laurel and Hardy finally get a chance to take the lead role, but do so in a world where echoes of Waiting for Godot resound, where reality and illusion intermix, and where fate leads our two heroes to a tragic but inevitable end. Tom Stoppard was catapulted into the front ranks of modem playwrights overnight when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead opened in London in 1967. Its subsequent run in New York brought it the same enthusiastic acclaim, and the play has since been performed numerous times in the major theatrical centers of the world. It has won top honors for play and playwright in a poll of London Theater critics, and in its printed form it was chosen one of the “Notable Books of 1967” by the American Library Association.

Brooke 

Absolutely my favorite play of all time. I fell in love with this so easily. The banter between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is easily some of the most hilarious playwriting that I have ever seen. Stoppard covers "deep" concepts such as death, life, the loss of identity and more but it's presented in a way where you can laugh while you're watching and think deeply about it later. If you can find it, I also highly recommend watching the National Theaters production of it with Daniel Radcliffe and Joshua McGuire it is amazing and they all capture the characters beautifully!

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Reviews