David Mirvish & Neptune Theatre/Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, by Tom Stoppard, directed by Jeremy Webb, CAA Theatre, until Apr. 6. Tickets here.
To be perfectly frank, Tom Stoppard’s 1966 play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead has not aged well. While later offerings from this playwright continue to dazzle, sadly, R&GAD falls flat.
I remember the excitement of seeing R&GAD in New York when it was a runaway Broadway hit, and being entranced by Stoppard’s brilliant take on absurdist existentialism. I thought the playwright was so clever in building a plot around two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In Stoppard’s R&GAD, we do see the few times that Hamlet’s childhood friends actually appear in the play, but in the main, it is how they behave when they are alone that is at the heart of Stoppard’s vision.
Unfortunately, over many years and several productions later, the play has lost its lustre. What was once witty repartee, provocative philosophical musings, and an engaging discussion on art versus reality, has become a pompous avalanche of words that seems too clever by half. The inconsistencies in the plot stand out, while the absurdist elements are no longer funny. In fact, the play is more tedious, than anything else.
As well, Stoppard’s R&GAD is not helped by the fact that it is very similar to Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (1953), with its two characters also in existential limbo, but which has aged beautifully with its economy of words and clear presentation of ideas. Did Stoppard deliberately copy Beckett as his starting point? Who knows?
Thus, stripping away the flaws of the play, what we are left with are the two actors who perform R&G and who, over three long acts, barely leave the stage.
In one of the ads for this production from Halifax’s Neptune Theatre, R&G are performed by two actors who appeared in Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy (2000-2003). Yet, I find it hard to believe that anyone is coming to see this play because two Hobbits from almost 20 years ago are its stars.
Rather, what is gracing the stage are two very skilful British actors who have the chops to carry the show. In fact, the team of English Dominic Monaghan (Rosencrantz) and Scottish Billy Boyd (Guildenstern) is one of this production’s few redeeming features, despite director Jeremy Webb’s slow pacing.
The casting came about because Webb, Neptune’s artistic director, got to know Boyd when the latter was filming various projects in Nova Scotia. It was Webb’s idea to unite Boyd with his good friend Monaghan to play R&G, and that pairing certainly works. What I really like about these actors is that they are clearly able to distinguish between the two characters who are often portrayed as two halves of the same whole.
Guildenstern is the more philosophical and questioning, and Boyd beautifully captures his almost idée fixe of following his own thought trajectory regardless of what is going on around him. He beautifully builds an arc for an oblivious Guildenstern who is entranced by his own seeming intelligence.
On the other hand, Monaghan is a fussy, almost timid Rosencrantz, but he is also more of a realist, and it is he who has a better grasp of their strange situation — in the court, but also outside it. The actor also does an excellent job in following the lead of the verbose Guildenstern, but in Monaghan’s capable hands, Rosencrantz can also assert himself when he must.
Stoppard has made a key part of his plot the travelling players, who, in Hamlet, perform before the court. R&G keep on running into them throughout the play, and their leader, simply called The Player (Michael Blake), is essential for presenting the art versus reality theme. Blake, who last year at Stratford played two Shakespeare villains, gets a chance to really strut his stuff in this flamboyant role. He brings a needed energy to the stage.
When not playing characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet as needed, the other ten actors are members of The Player’s acting troupe, and they do a fine job as a Greek chorus, of sorts. There are also some fine actors here — Pasha Ebrahimi as Hamlet, Jonathan Ellul as Claudius, Walter Borden as Polonius, Raquel Duffy as Gertrude, and Helen Belay as Ophelia. Drew Douris-O’Hara gets an amusing turn as Alfred, a tragedian who plays women’s roles.
Now we come to Andrew Cull’s annoying set which is a bank of bleachers that look like refugees from a high school football field. Yes, they do move around, and, yes, they are able to separate to create various venues, but they are awkward and unsightly. Director Webb has poor Monaghan and Boyd clambering up and down the rows throughout the play which becomes distracting over time. In fact, you worry about their safety.
Kaelen MacDonald’s costumes are a strange mix of centuries that include an inexplicable short circus tutu skirt for Gertrude. Why lighting designer Leigh Ann Vardy has made the stage so dark is anyone’s guess. The most effective member of the creative team is composer Deanna H. Choi’s atmospheric sound design.
I sincerely hope that first time G&RAD audience members, and I’m sure there are many, have the same burst of excitement at their encounter with the play, because Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead does diminish with each successive viewing.
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