Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard
Hamlet is one of the greatest plays ever written. Arguably more performed and studied than any other text in the dramatic realm. This is not Hamlet. Well, it is. But it’s not. It’s Hamlet but from the other side of the stage. Our heroes, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exist in a surreal patchwork world and are lost, trying to find their purpose as just side characters in someone else’s epic.
Directed by Jess Zlotnick, the hyper-theatrical world of ROS & GUIL, burst brightly onto the stage, playing with contrasts between the slick, formal onstage realm and the playful yet intimidating and sometimes terrifying world the characters inhabit the rest of the time.
My design explodes the stage with colour and excitement. Dynamic and ever-changing colours act as motifs across the plays’ more playful action, facilitating the thematic flow of Stoppard’s writing. Ultimately, this serves to highlight the relative minimalism of the tender and existential moments of the text, taking the audience on a cathartic roller-coaster through this wild show.
Images by Jake Starr
Full credits
- Director
- Jess Zlotnick
- Producer
- Jodi Rabinowitz
- Assistant Director
- Georgia Britt
- Set Designer
- Camille Karski
- Assistant Set Designer
- Rebecca Howarth
- Lighting Designer
- Lincoln Gidney
- Assistant Lighting Designer
- Ciara O'Neill
- Sound Designers
- Georgia Condon & Henry Hulme
- Assistant Costume Designer
- Taylor Angelo
- Graphic Designer
- Elliot Ulm
- Production Assistant
- Jake Parker
- Stage Manager
- Charlie Breene
- Photography
- Jake Starr
- Guildenstern
- Dani Maher
- Rosencrantz
- Max Peacock
- The Player
- Jasmine Cavanough
- Hamlet
- Fred Pryce
- Claudius
- Thomas Hanaee
- Gertrude
- Emilia McGrath
- Polonius
- Theo Murray
- Ophelia
- Phoebe Haylen
- Horatio
- Riley Dolahenty
- Fortinbras
- Ernst Nel
- Alfred
- Sophia Bryant
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