Limited Engagement

1968 Tony Award^® Best Play
1968 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Best Play

November 10 - 15, 2009 (Tuesday - Sunday)
Tues - Sat @ 7:30pm & Sun @ 2:00pm
Tickets: $12/General Admission
$10/Seniors(55+) & Students(17-)

“Hamlet, shmamlet - the real story in Elsinore happens behind the scenes.”
Michael Morain, Des Moines Register
(full review - adobe pdf)

Download the poster: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (jpg 160kb)

Venue

Grand View University
Viking Theatre
2811 E 14th St
Des Moines, IA 50316
(Directions and Parking)

Buy the script on amazon.com:
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

About the show

“Alas, poor Yorick! Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead!” Hamlet (Nick Cornelison) looms heavily over Rosencrantz (Mark Littlejohn) and Guildenstern (Joseph Gentzler). (click on image for hi-res quality for printing) photo by Eric Bench

Before winning an Oscar as a writer of Shakespeare in Love, Tom Stoppard delivered another ingenious comic retelling involving the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1967 he dove into the world’s most famous play, Hamlet, and retold it from the point of view of two bumbling support players. The entire world is a stage, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern play their part, finding themselves unwitting pawns in history’s greatest tragedy.

This contemporary classic of the theater was the winner of both the Tony and NY Drama Critics Circle awards when it premiered. Simply: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the school chums of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and this is the story of what “really” happened behind the scenes. What were they doing there in Elsinore anyway? The Players come and go; Hamlet comes through reading words, words, words; foul deeds are done; Hamlet is sent abroad, escapes death; and in turn Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find their only true exit.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead has also drawn many parallels to another play – Samuel Beckett’s absurdist Waiting for Godot, particularly in the main characters’ feelings of lack of purpose and incomprehension of their situation.

Stoppard says of his play that “Quite a lot of solemn and scholarly stuff has been written about it …” but insists, “… whatever else it is, is a comedy. My intention was comic, and if the play had not turned out funny I would have considered that I had failed.”

The cast and crew

Rosencrantz	Mark Littlejohn
Guildenstern	Joseph Gentzler
The Player	Eric Bench
Alfred	Jason Rainwater
Hamlet	Nick Cornelison
Ophelia	Megan Moore
Claudius	Keith Pederson Δ
Gertrude	Karen Pederson
Polonius	Michael Banks
Horatio	Joe Struss Δ
Tragedians & Court	Kyle Chizek Ruthellen Cunnally Δ Melissa Powell Δ Joe Struss Δ Mandi Arthur-Struss Δ
Director	Virginia Cobb
ADSM	Susan Gulbranson
Costume Design	Christy Wilkins
Scenic Design	Samuel Kyker Δ
Lighting Design	Peter Jackel
Sound Design	Chris Nelson
Light Tech	DeMitrious Wyant
Sound Tech	Dennis McCullough
Recorder and flugle	Kate Kimple Δ

Δ denotes CHANGE debut