Reviews
much drama but also much confusion owing to not enough braincells surprisingly entertaining - rosencratz and guildenstern make for an absurd, nonsensical, yet amusing pair. it's a very meta play - "audiences know what to expect, and that is all that they are prepared to believe in." - with this literally being a fanfiction of shakespeare's "hamlet" (fanfiction.net cld never) focusing on these two characters. intrigued enough to read up a bit more about. some additional reflections: the core of the story about these two characters navigating this uncomprehensible world (is there an order, what is sense, who are they? and the strangeness not just of the world but the games and things they play in it, e.g. the play starts with the game of coin toss and the almost impossible chance of so many consecutive heads; plays with this motif of impossibility, fate, beginnings and ends). tdy learnt about actor/playwright interchangeable roles, rlly seen in the interlacing, dynamic way characters play off one another.
There was some deeper meaning in the book that I appreciate and I love R&G, but it wasn't written well in my opinion.
Interesting and entertaining. Stoppard's writing is brilliant: full of witticisms which seem light-hearted but upon reflection are revelatory. Aware of an incredibly intelligent brain behind the whole thing - can't lose concentration for a second or you feel you'll lose the thread! Hope to be able to see a production of it in future. Now need to go read some more of Stoppard's work, probably starting with Arcadia.
Half of it made sense and the other half made me feel intrusive... All in all, poignantly and ingeniously absurd..
This was a quick read and having read hamlet (years ago) and watched Ophelia recently before reading, made it a lot easier to recall and make connections about what was going on it. There were times where it gets very fast paced and funny. But being a fan of hamlet and it’s characters, I’m a big fan of this work as well.
Hubo una época en la que el teatro del absurdo me encantaba y esta obra de teatro habría sido de mis lecturas favoritas. Ahora me aburre y me impacienta. Todos cambiamos.
Absolutely my favorite play of all time. I fell in love with this so easily. The banter between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is easily some of the most hilarious playwriting that I have ever seen. Stoppard covers "deep" concepts such as death, life, the loss of identity and more but it's presented in a way where you can laugh while you're watching and think deeply about it later. If you can find it, I also highly recommend watching the National Theaters production of it with Daniel Radcliffe and Joshua McGuire it is amazing and they all capture the characters beautifully!
