Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead' is another absurd play written by Tom Stoppard in 1966, and is about the story of two lesser known characters of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. In the parent play, the title of this play hides within a line when Hamlet, who was condemned to death in England, is saved as he replaces the letter meant to declare his execution with one declaring that of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Ros and Guil. These two are old friends of Hamlet from boarding school and help him through problems, and as the play falls under the umbrella of absurd theatre, spend a lot of time getting lost, distracted, confused and not doing very much.

Ros is the happy character of a lower intelligence, asking questions and largely undeveloped, laying his thoughts out in the text. Guil on the other hand, fakes intelligence and searches for answers but makes himself more sad in the process. Other characters from Hamlet appear throughout the course of the play, with the Player and his Tragedians (opportunists and so called actors that are in reality willing to do anything for money, including prostitution) taking a central role that provide interest to the plot and frame lots of the play as a play itself that highlights the absurdity of the piece. He also brings in metatheatre by using a play within a play to comment on life itself.

They begin in Denmark in a forest, flipping coins together, then come across the player on the road to the King's castle, who foreshadows their death. The King orders them to find out about Hamlet and his strange behaviour, but they fail to influence the wider plot and end up dead. The locations are often rural and not busy, perfect for absurdism and minimalist design, and as with Hamlet, is set in the 14th to 15th century in Denmark, during Winter, at both day and night.

This piece is a tragicomedy, as they are teleologically condemned to death from before even opening the script, but also because of their humour and stupidity remain largely unaware of this fate and are actually quite happy. When they find out their meaning, to deliver the letter and die, they (intuitively) die, so that purpose is stripped from them with life when they finally find it, reinforcing the absurd message. Lots of the scenes are so disjointed as the characters get distracted easily and change objective rapidly, which also creates comedy and a lack of meaning.