Dramaturgy Program
Department of Theater- UMass Amherst

Hamlet

Click on the above link for a synopsis of Hamlet, the play that inspired Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

In this play, Tom Stoppard explores the lives of two minor characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, friends from Hamlet's university days, find themselves caught in a world they do not understand.

Synopsis

Act I:

Two friends named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been summoned to Elsinore Castle by a messenger from Claudius and Gertrude, the king and queen of Denmark. On the road to Elsinore, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern flip coins. All of the coins come up heads--almost a hundred times in a row!

The two men meet a group of traveling actors on the road. The lead Player tries to get them to pay to watch a "private performance," but Guildenstern is not interested, and Rosencrantz won't give them enough money. Guildenstern persuades the Player to make several rigged bets, which the Player loses. Since the Player has no money, he offers the services of Alfred, a boy actor. Guildenstern asks the actors to perform a play instead.

Before they can watch the play, however, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz find themselves at court, where they meet with Claudius, Gertrude, and Polonius. Claudius asks Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet. They decide to "play at questions" in order to practice for their interview with the Prince. After Rosencrantz wins the question game, Guildenstern pretends to be Hamlet and Rosencrantz asks him questions. Hamlet arrives.

Act II:

After a disastrous interview with Hamlet (he asks them 27 questions and only answers three), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern try to figure out which way the wind is blowing. They meet up with the Player, who is angry with them for leaving his troupe's performance, but who eventually tries to help them figure out what is going on with Hamlet. Claudius and Gertrude ask the two friends about Hamlet, and they reply that the interview went well. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern then watch a rehearsal of The Murder of Gonzago, which is based on the story of Hamlet. The actual performance of the play breaks up because it has upset King Claudius. Claudius informs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that Hamlet has killed Polonius and asks them to find him, which they do. Hamlet speaks with a Soldier from the army of Fortinbras, King of Norway. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern think that they have finished their task, they learn that they are to accompany Hamlet to England.

Act III:

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find themselves on a boat bound for England, carrying a letter addressed to the King of England; the letter tells him to have Hamlet's head cut off. They discover that Hamlet is also on board the ship, and later that the Players are there, too. The ship is attacked by pirates, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern learn that Hamlet has switched the letters: now they are the ones who are to be executed in England. The Players show their skill at killing and dying, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern disappear. The final scene is the same as the ending of Hamlet: the stage is littered with the bodies of Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet, and Horatio offers to tell the story to Fortinbras and the Ambassadors from England.

This is the official Web site for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, produced by the Dramaturgy Program of the Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Produced and maintained by Dan Smith, dansmith_251@yahoo.com.