Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.

Who?!

I've never actually seen Hamlet before, but I was vaguely familiar with the plotline. Prince of Denmark is told by the ghost of his late father that he was murdered by the prince's uncle. The same uncle who is now married to the prince's mother and the new King. Prince goes mad, tragedy ensues, bloodbath at the end.

So forgive me for not knowing that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are, in fact, two characters in that play, with rather minor roles, involving them taking Hamlet to England, where they are supposed to deliver him to the King of England to secretly be executed.

This play, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead", was written in the 1960s by Tom Stoppard. It shows us what the two characters get up to during all the time they are not involved in the events of the play, Hamlet. More than that, they act as if they are actual characters in a play brought to life. So when events from Hamlet involve them, they know everything they are supposed to know, how to act, what to say, how to give their lines. As soon as the Shakespearian drama moves on to another scene, they are left behind, bereft of any self knowledge, like puppets with their strings cut. They constantly bemoan their lack of awareness, inability to do anything but follow events as laid down in the play, subject to the comings and goings of the other dramatis personae. So lacking in identity are they that they cannot even remember which one of them is Rosencrantz and which Guildenstern - nor can any of the other Hamlet characters.

The reviewer for the Evening Standard stated that "The play itself will be anathema to many. While lots of Stoppard's jokes still have bite, much of the humour that once struck audiences as dazzlingly original hasn't aged well." Fortunately for me, I have never even heard of it, and so it was perfectly enjoyable for me. A wonderful mix of metatheatre (there is a play within the play, where neither Rosencrantz nor Guildenstern recognise that the play is in fact about them) and existential angst and slapstick. Samuel Barnett and Jamie Parker, from the History Boys, play the leads with great energy, enthusiasm and affection. The play goes on a tad too long (some of the shipboard scenes culminating in a pirate attack could have been cut with no great loss).

I wish I could recommend that you see it - but I saw it on the last day it was showing at the Haymarket Theatre.