What: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Where: Langham Court Theatre
When: To June 28
Rating: 4.5/5
The bar for community theatre has been raised impressively (and even disconcertingly) high with a new production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
The 1966 Tom Stoppard classic just opened at Langham Court Theatre.
And what a wonderfully accomplished production this is. It truly achieves a professional standard; the acting, direction and set design are top-notch.
If this is the sort of theatre the Victoria Theatre Guild is capable of producing these days, the 85-year-old company has truly come of age.
It’s not easy theatre. In fact, a play like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead can be downright frightening to the theatre-goer who demands breezy after-dinner entertainment. Stoppard culled two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and created a strange, cerebral, absurdist romp that demands much of the audience.
If you think Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is a hoot (and there are those who do) you will love Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
If you don’t (and apparently half a dozen folk in front of me who exited at intermission Thursday are among their number) you might find this florid play daunting.
Stoppard recasts Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as a pair of clownish everymen who, like all of us, attempt to make sense of a bewildering world. Rosencrantz (Alex Judd) seems a bit dimmer — he seems the more confused of the pair, and less likely to question things. Guildenstern (Rick Rodrigues) has a more philosophical bent; for instance, he tries in frustration to make sense of the opening scene, in which Rosencrantz flips a coin endlessly only to have it come up heads every time.
This tragi-comedy is an Alice-Through-the-Looking-Glass examination of Hamlet. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead takes place in parallel to Shakespeare’s famous drama.
Entire lines from Hamlet are borrowed, and characters such as Hamlet, Ophelia and Polonius drift in and out.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent to spy on Hamlet, discover the whereabouts of Polonius’s corpse after he dies and ultimately transport Hamlet by ship to England, where he is to be executed. The tables are turned on the hapless pair at the end.
Stoppard’s penultimate scene, in which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ponder their fate before they are extinguished, is a metatheatrical tour-de-force. Throughout, the play ponders the relationship between art and reality. Theatre, like all art, attempts to find order in a random world. Stoppard gleefully rejects this — his characters typically refute their own statements or simply speak in ambiguous terms.
Co-directors Keith Digby and Cynthia Pronick have directed Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead with sure-footed clarity. The lyricism of the heroes’ existential musings contrast with rapid-fire comic exchanges, giving the script dynamism and shape. Myriad scenes — all taking place upon the raked stage of Bill Adams’ excellent cave-like set — shift quickly and, with the help of artful lighting and props, are well-defined.
Judd as Rosencrantz and Rodrigues as Guildenstern each delivered strong performances. These are difficult and very long roles.
Each actor emphasized the play’s comedic aspects, yet not so much as to overshadow subtleties. And no one fared better than Jason Stevens, confidently playing the leader of an itinerant acting troupe.
Stevens offered a lynch-pin performance that was broadly theatrical and uproariously funny.
The entire cast does well, whether it be Chase Arden in the small role of cross-dressing Alfred or Roger Carr as Claudius. It’s a solid, well-rehearsed ensemble. Overall, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is an admirable finale to Langham Court Theatre’s season.