Rosencrantz and Guildenstern probes questions
Kelly McCready
Issue date: 11/6/09 Section: Focus
|
Inspired by Ron Wilson's vision of another Stoppard play, Arcadia, Taylor felt that it was time to experiment. A play of this magnitude is usually pieced together over a period of six weeks, but with a mere 13 rehearsals, the cast pulled together the dense text, complex themes, and moments of absolute absurdity. "I knew from the beginning that this would be a beast of a play to do," says Taylor. "The shortened time span made it even harder. We crammed a lot into tech week, and I made some last-minute decisions and experiments. I'm very happy with the way it turned out."
As the audience seated themselves, Rosencrantz (Heather Lemire) and Guildenstern (Kaitlyn Estes) read books and tossed coins, immediately setting the tone of the play. Not bogged down by more philosophical questions, Lemire and Estes succeeded in maintaining this relaxed mood throughout, but still allowed the dark themes to creep in as the action progressed.
What was most striking about these two performances was how well both Lemire and Estes handled the text. Stoppard's play is layered with word-play and puns and has often been performed at a slower pace to allow the audience to keep up. But Taylor, Lemire, and Estes chose to work through the text at a lighter pace. The audience had a choice: either sit back and enjoy the energy, or decipher the text to glean a deeper, more humorous meaning. In contrast to this humor, Lemire and Estes effectively posed some of the darker questions of the futility of life and inevitability of death. They were remarkably reliable and played off each other well in the more challenging, dramatic moments of the play.
Be the first to comment on this story