Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.
Plot and Background.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are two very minor characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet. They are Hamlet's childhood friends and in Hamlet, there deaths are incredibly overlooked: the line 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,' appears in the play.
Tom Stoppard thought the idea of their overlooked deaths was perfect for an absurdist play - in the play he explores the ridiculous and comedic events that ultimately lead to their deaths. The basic plot is:
Whilst flipping coins and discussing the implications of their insane results, R and G meet a group of traveling players on the road and learn that they are seeking an audience with the king. They meet with the king and queen and are ordered to meet with their old friend Hamlet and find out the cause of his madness (Hamlet is faking insanity).
Despite practicing how to trick Hamlet, the pair immediately are bested by his wit. The players come back and R and G watch a dress rehearsal of The Murder of Gonzago - the very play that Hamlet wants his uncle to see and so tell if he is guilty. Unlike in Hamlet, the play includes two characters who are very like R and G, we see them die at sea.
Hamlet is fleeing Denmark to go to England, R and G accompany him on a ship. There is then a time jump and act 3 begins with the pair waking up in barrels of the ship - they have no memory of how they got there. They remember they were instructed by the king to deliver a letter to the king of England, upon opening it they see that it contains orders for Hamlet's execution.
R is very hesitant to follow the orders of the letter but G convinces him to go through with it. Before the ship reaches England however, Hamlet swaps the letter with one that condemns R and G to death. The players (impossibly) jump out of barrels and explain they are fleeing the anger of the king who was displeased with the play. With very little explanation, pirates attack the ship and R,G and players hide in barrels.
When they exit the barrels, they find that Hamlet has disappeared - in Hamlet he is described as being kidnapped by pirates. R and G read the letter and see they are going to die - this triggers a big debate with the players over the true meaning of death. G kills the player to prove a point, but he jumps up and shows that the knife was a trick.
The stage goes dark except for R and G: both disappear.
Absurdist Theatre.
- The theatre of the absurd is a post-ww1 style that focuses on the ideas of existentialism. It explores the idea of human existence lacking meaning.
- Lots of absurd plays involve human characters trapped in incomprehensible worlds that are subject to random, non-logical events. Bally Turk is a perfect example.
- Two base templates for characters: simple, non-questioning characters who accept the world around them without mining for a higher purpose and more complex characters who try and search for reason in madness. The simple characters are often stuck in loops of nonsense but are portrayed as happy whereas the questioning ones are always frustrated and lonely.
- Absurd plays uses non-sensical dialogue; some characters speak nothing but nonsense which shows another absurdist theme: the breakdown of communication
- Many absurd plays use strange lighting and sound - often it is completely against the mood of the scene or clashes horribly. However, sets and costume are usually very simple.
- One common theme in theatre of the absurd is the idea of taking a simple everyday object, character or setting and making it absurdly strange. This is the concept behind Kafkaesque nightmares (see context on metamorphosis).
- One reason theatre of the Absurd was so successful post ww1 is that suffering and adversity breeds the questioning of a higher purpose. The war-torn survivors questioned the horrific nature of life and so the idea that life has no meaning was very appealing.