Dramaturgical Resources
2024
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
By Tom Stoppard
Over the course of the season, our assistant directors and student dramaturgs will be compiling dramaturgical resources relating to each production as it develops. Below are some links to websites which relate to the history of the play, the biography of the playwright, and sites that contextualize and, we hope, shed light on the directorial approach to the dramatic material.
We hope you find these resources of interest.
Tom Stoppard (b. 1937)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (is a modern tragicomedy written by Tom Stoppard. Frequently considered an absurdist drama, the play immerses us in the world of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but concentrates on the perspective of two minor characters in that drama, the two childhood friends of the usurped prince, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Throughout the play, we follow the two protagonists, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, as they are thrown into a multitude of escapades and situations with little or no awareness as to why or how they end up being part of the broader, Hamlet narrative. Stoppard takes a very existential approach in this piece, addressing themes such as death, identity, and the frivolity of life.
Tom Stoppard was born in Czechoslovakia in 1937, and moved to England while he was still very young. He initially started work as a journalist, and then started writing short plays for radio and television before having his play, A Walk on The Water, staged. He began work on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead while in Berlin on a Ford Foundation grant in 1964. It started as a short play that was performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 1966. After its debut, it received many favorable reviews, and brought Stoppard immediate international acclaim. He has revised the work many times since. It has now been performed in many different theatres around the world and is one of Stoppard’s most beloved and popular works. Stoppard adapted and directed a film version starring Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, and Richard Dreyfuss in 1990
Explore Stoppard’s playwriting timeline.
View the production history.
A guide to some of the quotes from the play.