ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD. To 10 March.
Manchester
ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD
by Tom Stoppard
Library Theatre To 10 March 2007
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 15, 17, 22, 24 Feb1, 3, 8, 10 March 2.30pm 27 Feb, 6 March 2pm
Audio-described 8 March 7.30pm, 10 March 2.30pm
BSL Signed 22 Feb 7.30pm
Captioned 23 Feb
Pre-show Talk 21 Feb, 3 March 2.30pm
Runs 2hr 45min Two intervals
TICKETS: 0161 236 7110
www.librarytheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 5 February
Fun and philosophy in a revival that entertains as it captures the full scope of this fine play.
Like Vladimir and Estragon from the previous decade’s Waiting for Godot, they just appear. Neither they nor we know why they’re here, or quite where they’ve come from. But they are given something Samuel Beckett’s characters aren’t: a structure provided by their involvement in the story of Hamlet. The sweep of forward movement in the Hamlet scenes Tom Stoppard incorporates in his 1966 play contrasts the static wonderings of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s many moments alone.
Then there’s the irony that Shakespeare’s indistinguishable twosome, theatre bywords for acting nonentities (“He’d make a decent Rosencrantz/Guildenstern,” being an ultimate dismissal) acquire characters in this play. Guildenstern (like Beckett’s Vladimir) is the more speculative, enquiring kind, Rosencrantz (not too like Estragon) more immediate in his interests, and slower-thinking.
Major actors might give more highly-defined interpretations, but Leigh Symonds and Graeme Hawley are as good as could reasonably be wished for. If Symonds seems the more prominent, that goes with a person who’s more involved in the moment, not holding thoughtfully back (just as he’s the immediate winner in the tailless coin-tossing at the start).
This is a very fine performance, the puzzled looks, the moments of fleeting hopefulness, the sudden questions all registering without ever cluttering the character or the action. Hawley meanwhile gives an effortless sense of greater organisation, and an abstract confidence that believes it understands its place in this uncertain world.
Others contribute excellently to Chris Honer’s production. Michael Jenn as leader of the Player-troupe which visits Elsinore has a grandeur of manner even as he shows the sexual seediness of his company’s ‘performances’ away from court. Jenn captures the surface energy and optimism, the indigent confidence, financial opportunism and survival strategies of life on the road. And his company’s instant images of their dramatic repertoire are vividly created through Peta Lily’s movement work.
Only the Hamlet scenes sometimes underwhelm, verse-drama making hefty demands on some of this cast. But Honer’s fine, intelligent direction keeps the inaction moving making Stoppard’s wordplay comical and clear. Dawn Allsopp’s minimalist, stepped design enhances the sense of a world that mixes court order and anonymity.
Rosencrantz: Leigh Symonds
Guildenstern: Graeme Hawley
Player: Michael Jenn
Player-King: Ansu Kabia
Alfred: Cameron Slater
Player-Poisoner: Adam Sunderland
Payer-Spy: Nicholas Osmond, Christopher Chamberlain
Hamlet: Phil Rowson
Ophelia: Ruth Westley
Claudius: Andonis Anthony
Gertrude: Meriel Scholfield
Polonius: Richard Sails
Director: Chris Honer
Designer: Dawn Allsopp
Lighting: Nick Richings
Sound: Paul Gregory
Composer: Jon Nicholls
Movement: Peta Lily
Assistant director: Simon Pittman
2007-02-07 10:27:33