"Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead" question/help

[MuseRider]

I just stumbled onto this movie but I missed the beginning. Are these guys stumbling around in a "real life" Hamlet or are they "real" guys who stumbled into the play? It is quite amusing but I can't figure it out.

[King Of Paperboys]

1. They are the characters from the play,

Come to life and dealing with death. So their situation most closely approximates your first choice.

[MuseRider]

2. THANKS!!!

I am enjoying this but was very confused. I appreciate the help.

[King Of Paperboys]

4. No Problem.

Yes, it is very funny. Stoppard at his peak.

[PragMantisT]

3. They are the guys from "Hamlet", and they are in "Hamlet".

But they are trapped in a world more absurd than Hamlet's. Logic does not exist there, i.e. a coin cannot come up heads 100 times straight.

[King Of Paperboys]

5. That's what it's like to be dead.

It's a total bitch.

[Lars39]

6. They swap names a lot, too.

Shakespeare. :loveya:

[flamingyouth]

7. One of my all-time favorite plays

A friendship was almost destroyed because my friend didn't like this play and didn't "get" it. I concur with the previous posters here about the plot. It's really great. I remember reading it in high school and loving every word.:hi:

[MuseRider]

8. I have missed this one!

Wow, I am loving it. I loved the indoor court game. "Non Sequitur" 2 Love. Match point!"

[gmoney]

9. It's lives of characters "off stage"

I'm not sure if Stoppard's the first to do it, but logically, in a play, all the characters exist even when their off stage and they all have a "backstory" and are doing things offstage. So why not write another play?

So R&G is a play that complements the action of Hamlet, and at a few points, they intersect. And since it is a mirror image of the drama of Hamlet, it makes sense that it's an absurd farce (R&G are the comic relief of Hamlet anyway). As you mentioned, neither character seems to be 100% sure which one they are.

I love the way Oldman's charachter keeps inadvertently "discovering" all these various scientific principles without actually realizing their significance.

That and the game of "questions"... just brilliant.

[MuseRider]

10. I just recently

turned on to Oldman. He is very good, seems to have some real chops. Yes, it is so funny and done so cleverly that at times I don't get the joke or point until I see the look on the characters face. Sadly, at least for watching this kind of movie, there is much activity here, both kids are home and needing things and I keep getting lost. I may have to own this one at some point.

The episode with the wind and the pinwheel was pretty funny. "Not wind, a breeze." Or something like that.

[jdsmith]

13. You won't own it anytime soon, I'm afraid

Out of print, I think.

Stoppard himself directed it, btw.

[MuseRider]

14. That is very sad.

It seemed the kind of play I could watch for a while and still be amused, lots I probably missed this first time around. Thanks for the info.

[jdsmith]

16. You can get a used video from Amazon for around $100

Or you could luck out (as I did) and buy it for $1.98 when a video store dropped it in the _This-Crap-Never-Rents_ bin.

One of those "Why isn't this on DVD?" chart toppers.

[MuseRider]

17. Are you serious?

This is not out on DVD? It was wonderful! Damn, that really sucks. Who wouldn't like this? Thanks.

[jdsmith]

18. Okay. Here's why some people wouldn't like it.

Because English professors, like me, try to spoil the fun by asking questions like: What is Richard Dreyfuss's character's first name?

(It's not "Player." His character has a real name; it's just not listed in the credits or said onscreen.)

[MuseRider]

22. Well damn!

No wonder. I could not tell you much about the whole film since there was so much going on here but if I read the play I'll bet I could answer you. I think I may have to go check it out and read it so I can get the stuff I missed. I loved it, it is so clever.

[gmoney]

20. Available in England on DVD

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008OIWF/qid=1089504288/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-1526644-8635025

It's a Region 0 disc, which is supposed to be "Region Free" but it may or may not play on your US player.

[MuseRider]

23. THANKS!

I will check it out. I rarely get movies on DVD because most of them bore me after I have seen them a few times but this one seems like a keeper.

[stellanoir]

11. "what are

we waiting for again. . .?"

sorry couldn't resist

[MuseRider]

12. Sorry,

"Not good at original questions, just support." Or something like that. I have just discovered this play.

[stellanoir]

15. okay. . .in the original. . .

they repeat that line incessantly

sort of became an all purpose quip shortly after it was published.

enjoy!

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. I LOVE that movie! loved playing Questions with my bro

[MuseRider]

25. I must have missed something

what questions? Do you mean like the game they played? It was difficult for me to follow it with everything going on but what I caught was pretty funny. I am afraid I would never be quick enough for a game like that.

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. It's not that hard once you get used to it. Of course, we were just kids.

Maybe we were playing it wrong? *l*

[davsand]

21. Never saw the movie. LOVE the play!

One of my favorites of all time.

True but odd fact? The night I met my husband for the first time, I threw out a line from that play--and he fed me back the NEXT line. He was one of the only men I'd EVER met who had even heard of Stoppard, let alone read that play and liked it...

Laura

[MuseRider]

24. No wonder you

married him! I would have too. Neat story, thanks. If you ever see the movie let us know how it compares, it may be awhile before I get the play to read.