In the 51 years since Tom Stoppard’s acclaimed existential tragicomedy hit the stage at the Edinburgh Fringe, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead has gone on to find a level of popular interest that most plays can only dream of. For a work which catapulted its writer to fame overnight, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is distinctly interested in those shy of the spotlight, focusing almost entirely on two characters who find themselves at the edge of someone else’s play, and someone else’s life: Hamlet. As Callum Hill, director of the upcoming student production, says, the line Stoppard took his title from is a mere “throwaway”. 

Yet from this and a few other lines, we are given a play fizzing with energy, humour and emotion. Hill’s interpretation, playing at the Auditorium Theatre in Robinson College, is no different. Even while rehearsing in these unfamiliar surroundings, the performers electrified the stage. Though the absurdist plot of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is dominated by its two main characters, the play boasts a sizeable cast of supporting characters, with familiar faces like Hamlet, Ophelia and Claudius all making appearances.

Indeed, this staging is particularly crowded, thanks to Hill’s bold decision to split its titular roles. Opening night will see three Rosencrantzes and three Guildensterns appearing in three pairs, with each assigned to one of the play’s three acts. “I was excited by the idea,” says Hill. “It’s never been done before”.

“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern aren’t Lear or Hamlet”

It’s a novel choice but one which fits snugly into the dynamic of the play. “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern aren’t Lear or Hamlet,” Callum says, and he was keen to “do the play differently”. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is a play about people on the periphery, lives left mostly blank by Shakespeare, and splitting the role is an exciting way to represent the inherent malleability of this position. Hill compares Stoppard’s play to Waiting for Godot, another absurdist piece of existential theatre (perhaps the genre du jour in Cambridge) that continues to exert a massive influence. Both are stories about characters who spend their time waiting for someone else to come in and give them something to do.

“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the heroes of their own story, but caught up in plots far larger than themselves”

Hill hopes each pairing will be able to bring their own personal imprint to the role, informed by their “own experience” and reactions to the work. This approach goes a long way to emphasise the relatability of the play’s two protagonists. Not tragic heroes like Hamlet, nor ridiculously comic clowns, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are first and foremost human beings: both the heroes of their own story, but caught up in plots far larger than themselves. This lends a tragicomic edge, but with its sharply minimalistic costume and set design, Hill places the production “more on the side of tragedy”, stressing its “alienating” quality of confusion, though certainly not without an appreciation of Stoppard’s typically absurd humour. 

Review: Edward II

Innovative, agonising yet still undeniably funny, this staging of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead promises to be a memorably dynamic take on a post-modern classic. With the enthusiasm and chemistry of its cast and crew already obvious, you can look forward to emerging from Robinson’s hidden gem of a theatre moved, amused and deeply impressed.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead runs in Robinson College Auditorium 16th-18th of February, 7:30pm