Comments on: Hip Shot: “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”

By: Capital Fringe Fest 2009: Our Comprehensive Rundown - Fringe & Purge - Washington City Paper

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:45:08 +0000

[...] Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead [...]

By: jobie w.

jobie w. — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:15:12 +0000

In reference to a couple of points – so, as the actors are not ‘blamed’ (poor word choice, can think of no other at the moment) – - –
- – - Hamelet’s “except my life . . . except my life . . . ” was performed consistantly as rehearsed by both Raven Bonniwell and Steph Svec. It was a directorial choice not a mistake on their part.
- – - I believe there was some line jumping however, some is called for in the script, whether it was poorly executed or too believable may be a ‘matter of taste’.

Thanks for coming and for taking the time to review and respond to comments. Cheers!

By: Brett Abelman

Brett Abelman — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:46:54 +0000

I didn’t mean that the repitition of “Except my life” was in error; I meant that it was correct, or would have been if it hadn’t been “quashed.” In the production I saw, this line was stepped on twice – first as the first “Except my life” was being uttered, and then again before she could get to the second.

Brian Flores, I admit the verb tense in the quoted line is a little confused. Such are the perils of the Hip-Shot format, I suppose. The intended meaning: the play might be popularly judged as one that can bear cutting; I felt that way too; as it turns out, it can’t. -One could say this puts me at odds with Mr. Stoppard himself, given Nu Sass’s revelation – but I would say rather that this raises the question of whether the production was up to the challenge of realizing the shorter version of the play. It felt rushed to me.

I apologize if I give the impression of being smug or… underemployed?… but I did, in the end, like many things about this piece. (One line I cut for space: “Raven Bonniwell could make a fine and cunning Hamlet given Shakespeare’s full role.”) I meant to convey that I, as but one of *many* familiar with the play, felt let down in the end.

By: Brian Flores

Brian Flores — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:02:25 +0000

Yawn…another smug and self-aggrandizing yet underemployed theater hack who loves the sound of his own voice and the sight of his own prose, even when said voice & prose are both factually incorrect and fundamentally non-sensical. “If ever there was a script that seemed like it could bear a few nips and tucks, but really can�t, it was this one; in fact I almost believed it could.” What kind of textual and logical cortortionism is this?

While the Player did seem stumble-prone in one of the two performance I’ve seen of this show so far, the leads do a magnificent job of conveying the existential angst of the play’s title characters. The minimalism of the costumes, and costume changes for those actors playing multiple characters, might be confusing to anyone unfamiliar with the story of Hamlet, but overall I think the play works very well.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am friends with several of the cast members and their co-webmaster. I’ve also seen 8 Fringe shows so far this year (on my way to at least 20), and I can safely say that R&G is one of the better productions so far, and one of the more intellectually ambitious.

By: Nu Sass

Nu Sass — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:02:52 +0000

Factual correction to the review, Hamlet’s line “Except my life” is in fact repeated in Stoppard’s script 3 times, the repetition is not an error.

S squared – A significant portion of the cuts made to the script for this production were actually suggested by Stoppard himself. If you purchase a copy of the script from Samuel French, Inc. from whom the rights to the show may also be purchased, you will find large chunks of the text in brackets that Stoppard inserted when the script was printed. We made some additional cuts to keep from running over 90 minutes, but they were minimal. Stoppard’s own introduction to the script lays out his reasoning behind the cuts – that in his opinion the show turned out to be too long, and can be very effective even paired down.

By: Brett Abelman

Brett Abelman — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:38:08 +0000

Thanks – I don’t know how I got it into my head that I was just an hour, if I’d paused for a moment I’d have realized that was wrong. Nevertheless, a signficant cutting.

And thanks for the link to the other review – I think it’s always very instructive when two reviews are so polarized – much more helpful in making your decision on seeing the show than just having one alone.

By: S squared

S squared — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:32:50 +0000

I’m very surprised that Stoppard would have allowed R&G ARE DEAD to be cut like this (and I’m really not implying that anyone did anything wrong, just curious)–was that a tricky permission to get?

By: another opinion

another opinion — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:20:13 +0000

Just a factual correction the above review, the show was 90 minutes.

For a different opinion on the show, here is DC Theater Scene’s review.
http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/07/16/rosencrantz-and-guildenstern-are-dead-2/