BonesofBirdWings (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bonesofbirdwings) wrote2018-12-09 01:21 am
bonesofbirdwings) wrote2018-12-09 01:21 am
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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
So it's no secret to everyone that knows me that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is my favorite play of all time. I cry about it. I quote lines to people. (Just a conspiracy of cartographers, then?) I have a shit ton of feelings about the themes and the intertextuality. I could write 50 posts about why I love it so much. I did in fact write a fic about it - Exeunt.
But yeah, I went to see a community theatre production of it tonight. For all my love of the play, I hadn't actually been able to see it live. I've seen the Tom Stoppard movie (like, three times) and I saw a recording of an opening night of a stage production of it in London recently. So I was super pumped to see it live.
It was a fantastic production! The lights were... not great, for reasons I could break down, but I don't think many people want to hear all my lighting jargon. But the acting was wonderful, and I mean, that was really the reason I was going in the first place anyway.
First of all, the Rosencrantz was the sweetest and dopiest version of the character that I've seen, and it really worked? The "in-a-box" monologue is usually delivered meditatively, or seriously, or even desperately, as he tries and tries to deliver jokes to break the tension. This actor started out almost whimsically? (I mean, you’d never know you were in a box - would you, it would be just like you were asleep in a box! Not that I’d like to sleep in a box, mind you.) And then when it devolved into the bad jokes, he got desperate near the end, but kinda kept that lighthearted attitude where he was very obviously not thinking about it. It really made me view the monologue in a different light - not as a solemn contemplation of this idea of being dead in a box, but as a running attempt to just stop thinking about it. Which is more what Stoppard intended anyway, I think.
The Guildenstern was angrier than some I've seen, more quick to rage against the illogical circumstances of their situation. I didn't really like it at first, but I think it worked with the sweeter interpretation of Rosencrantz. A too-angry Guildenstern with a less light-hearted Rosencrantz would have dragged the play down. This play felt pretty balanced, though. And it really highlighted how much Guildenstern uses rationalization as a defense mechanism against the uncertain circumstances of the world, and how his avoidance of change or movement arises out of fear.
Both R and G were the most confused that I've seen them yet. In some interpretations, people play them as getting "swept along" in the momentum of Hamlet and one of G's lines actually refers to that happening, but these guys delivered all of R and G's Hamlet lines with a lot of confusion. I'm still not quite sold on that directorial choice (I like how R and G can be very evidently necessary in the action of Hamlet, and perform their parts flawlessly, and then are very confused in the aftermath). But the extra confusion was fun, and I think made them seem even more out of place.
The Hamlet was good - he wasn't as cruel or angry as the Hamlet in the movie, but he did a very good job establishing a subtle kind of malice. I really enjoyed his interpretation, and it was interesting to see a subtly sadistic Hamlet play off of a sweet Rosencrantz. I loved the dynamic.
The only interpretation I didn't really like was the Player. They cast a woman in the role, which was GREAT, but it was also the flirtiest Player I've seen. And that would be fine except 1) the character started getting stale when they played all the lines as flirty and 2) they made the line "look on every exit as an entrance somewhere else" baudy, and it's too much of a thematic line to do that with? Like, it really establishes the themes of the nature of acting and free will early on, and I was disappointed that it was played off like that. I know that probably sounds like nitpicking, but it's one of my favorite lines. :(
All of this just makes me want to write another R&G fic... I need to work on my BNHA fic, but I... really really want to write a fic where Horatio becomes Aware of things like R and G, and has to navigate his role as the observer of this tragedy. Anyway, please tell me to write my longfic, no matter how many R and G feelings I have. And let me know about any R and G feelings you have in the comments!
But yeah, I went to see a community theatre production of it tonight. For all my love of the play, I hadn't actually been able to see it live. I've seen the Tom Stoppard movie (like, three times) and I saw a recording of an opening night of a stage production of it in London recently. So I was super pumped to see it live.
It was a fantastic production! The lights were... not great, for reasons I could break down, but I don't think many people want to hear all my lighting jargon. But the acting was wonderful, and I mean, that was really the reason I was going in the first place anyway.
First of all, the Rosencrantz was the sweetest and dopiest version of the character that I've seen, and it really worked? The "in-a-box" monologue is usually delivered meditatively, or seriously, or even desperately, as he tries and tries to deliver jokes to break the tension. This actor started out almost whimsically? (I mean, you’d never know you were in a box - would you, it would be just like you were asleep in a box! Not that I’d like to sleep in a box, mind you.) And then when it devolved into the bad jokes, he got desperate near the end, but kinda kept that lighthearted attitude where he was very obviously not thinking about it. It really made me view the monologue in a different light - not as a solemn contemplation of this idea of being dead in a box, but as a running attempt to just stop thinking about it. Which is more what Stoppard intended anyway, I think.
The Guildenstern was angrier than some I've seen, more quick to rage against the illogical circumstances of their situation. I didn't really like it at first, but I think it worked with the sweeter interpretation of Rosencrantz. A too-angry Guildenstern with a less light-hearted Rosencrantz would have dragged the play down. This play felt pretty balanced, though. And it really highlighted how much Guildenstern uses rationalization as a defense mechanism against the uncertain circumstances of the world, and how his avoidance of change or movement arises out of fear.
Both R and G were the most confused that I've seen them yet. In some interpretations, people play them as getting "swept along" in the momentum of Hamlet and one of G's lines actually refers to that happening, but these guys delivered all of R and G's Hamlet lines with a lot of confusion. I'm still not quite sold on that directorial choice (I like how R and G can be very evidently necessary in the action of Hamlet, and perform their parts flawlessly, and then are very confused in the aftermath). But the extra confusion was fun, and I think made them seem even more out of place.
The Hamlet was good - he wasn't as cruel or angry as the Hamlet in the movie, but he did a very good job establishing a subtle kind of malice. I really enjoyed his interpretation, and it was interesting to see a subtly sadistic Hamlet play off of a sweet Rosencrantz. I loved the dynamic.
The only interpretation I didn't really like was the Player. They cast a woman in the role, which was GREAT, but it was also the flirtiest Player I've seen. And that would be fine except 1) the character started getting stale when they played all the lines as flirty and 2) they made the line "look on every exit as an entrance somewhere else" baudy, and it's too much of a thematic line to do that with? Like, it really establishes the themes of the nature of acting and free will early on, and I was disappointed that it was played off like that. I know that probably sounds like nitpicking, but it's one of my favorite lines. :(
All of this just makes me want to write another R&G fic... I need to work on my BNHA fic, but I... really really want to write a fic where Horatio becomes Aware of things like R and G, and has to navigate his role as the observer of this tragedy. Anyway, please tell me to write my longfic, no matter how many R and G feelings I have. And let me know about any R and G feelings you have in the comments!
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I still need to read or see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead myself; reading Mansfield Park first!
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