Tragi-comedy “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” opens April 9
March 10, 2015
The next theatrical performance in Chapman’s
Shakespeare Reimagined: Interpretations Across the Arts
is
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
, Tom Stoppard’s fabulously inventive tale of
Hamlet
as told from the worm’s-eye view of the bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are Hamlet’s treacherous friends in the Shakespeare play.
This modern masterpiece gives the stage to these two characters, but when they finally get a chance to take the leading roles, reality and illusion intermix, and our two heroes comically and tragically find their way to an inevitable end.
Directed by
Gavin Cameron-Webb
, the performance runs April 9-11 and 16-18 at 7:30 p.m. in Waltmar Theatre, with an additional performance on April 18 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 general admission; $15 senior citizens, alumni and non-Chapman students and are available to order online at chapman.edu/tickets, or by calling the University Ticket Office at (714) 997-6812.
Of related interdisciplinary interest is the free public lecture in Waltmar Theatre on April 17, titled
“Science and Mathematics in Stoppard’s Work,”
with Chapman University Chancellor Daniele Struppa. Beginning at 4:00 p.m., Chancellor Struppa will discuss the creative ways in which Tom Stoppard uses mathematics and more general scientific method to convey poetic ideas and significance. Examples will include excerpts from Stoppard’s works
Hapgood
(1987),
Arcadia
(1993), and, of course,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
(1966).
Shakespeare Reimagined is a collaborative semester-long celebration of Shakespeare through music, film, theatre and dance, and culminates in April with
Pacific Symphony
‘s concerts featuring Prokofiev’s
Romeo and Juliet
with Prokofiev’s original happy ending reinstated.