ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD

Drayton Arms Theatre

★★★

“Different Theatre holds its own; this is an ambitious play, and one they tackled well”

Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead – no mean feat for a cast of 4 – remains an engaging piece of absurdist metatheatre. Directed by Sam Chittenden, this production, though small, economises engagingly with Polonius puppets and Ophelia dolls.

For those who don’t remember their Shakespeare or their Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead follows the two eponymous characters. Whilst mere side characters and victims of Hamlet’s rampages in the source material, in Stoppard’s play, they are central figures, desperately trying to navigate existentialism, actors, and an unhinged Hamlet. They yap about biased coin tosses, a human Schrodinger’s Cat, and word games, until petitioned by King Claudius to suss out Hamlet’s odd behaviour. Thus, the double act begins listlessly plodding around Elsinore, meekly trying and failing to engage Hamlet in meaningful conversation. The only people they ever really engage with are the travelling players, who are always performing.

Eventually, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are shipped off to their death in England, where at least they won’t be made to watch any more theatre. Except the players are also on board. It’s a series of more and more unfortunate events.

Perhaps this play, which directly uses the source material of Hamlet, is undermined by the smallness of the venue. The narrative and progression of time seemed at odds with the space, though perhaps this was part of Stoppard’s surrealist agenda. That being said, with three acts and two intervals, the piece did drag somewhat.

This is a demanding play, requiring theatrical dexterity and total command of the language. The cast, though competent and agile in their multi-rolling, perhaps struggled with such demands. With its post-modernist conceits and snappy dialogue, it was a challenge to maintain momentum.

It did often feel clumsy, and played for laughs, rather than trusted as an innately witty and erudite piece of writing.

However, the actors were a cohesive bunch, especially Ross Gurney-Randall as the Player and Claudius. Ben Baeza and Morgan Corby as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were well-matched, and distinct in an Odd Couple-esque way. One addition was the employment of audience members during the play within the play. By dragging volunteers in to play the roles of Queen, King, and Uncle, Chittenden toyed engagingly with the politics of metatheatre. The downside of this, however, is it tipped the piece into pantomime territory, which is always a terrifying prospect.

It may seem a small point, but volume was a noticeable problem. Where Corby was a little too quiet, Baeza was consistently too loud. His projection, in such a venue, felt a little like an auricular assault. But they worked well together and maintained a decent rapport.

As an amateur production, Different Theatre holds its own; this is an ambitious play, and one they tackled well. It did, however, crave more soldering and slickness if it is going to tackle Stoppard.