Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and Obscured by Language

Abstract

Tom Stoppard's 1967 play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead focuses on two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet. However, in Stoppard's re-telling, language is the focus because nothing much happens; the action is already predetermined. Drawing on Martin Esslin's The Theatre of the Absurd, this scenographic design created a dramatic world in which the events happening around Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are beyond their control and beyond even their understanding. The scenic design incorporated unmotivated, unexplained flying objects that mirrored the characters' lack of control, and the lighting design emphasized the different moods of each set. To underscore the play's contemporary relevance, the court members were costumed as religious clergy and the players' costumes drew upon contemporary popular entertainment genres. Supplementary visual materials include groundplans, side sections, front and paint elevations, pictures of the models, swatched costume renderings, and lighting storyboards, plot, and paperwork.