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<\/a>Jay Whittaker, so impressive as Oberon\/Theseus in \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream,\u201d portrays Guildenstern, the stronger, yet still uncertain of the two major characters in Stoppard\u2019s work. John Lavelle, who plays Snug the Joiner in \u201cDream\u201d and Lancelot Gobbo in \u201cMerchant,\u201d plays Rosencrantz.<\/p>\n
Triney Sandoval, who plays Snout and the clownish Gratiano in the aforementioned plays, displays just the right amount of overweening, unctuous oiliness as King Claudius \u2013 Hamlet\u2019s usurping uncle \u2013 in the Stoppard comedy. Sherman Howard is imposing vocally and physically as The Player King.<\/p>\n
Playgoers may remember Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. In \u201cHamlet,\u201d they portray the title character\u2019s former classmates, sent for by Claudius and Hamlet\u2019s mother when the lad displays insanity in his quest for revenge. In reality, they are asked to spy on their friend, to discover the causes of his melancholy and strange behavior.<\/p>\n
One of the inside jokes here is that Stoppard\u2019s Hamlet is played by Lucas Hall, who portrayed Shakespeare\u2019s Hamlet the last time The Globe produced the major work.<\/p>\n
In Stoppard\u2019s \u201cRosencrantz,\u201d the pair \u2013 constantly misidentified by Claudius and Gertrude \u2013 also constantly misidentify themselves. Apparently they are offstage, cast in a film production of \u201cHamlet,\u201d and yet they do not know this and remember nothing of the play, of which pieces begin to materialize. To entertain themselves while waiting for they-know-not-what to commence, they indulge in a game of tennis and coin tossing, Guildenstern to Rosencrantz. The coins, pocketed by Rosencrantz, always come up heads.<\/p>\n
Then, The Players appear, on their way to Hamlet in Shakespeare\u2019s play. Stoppard tantalizes his audience and his bewildered protagonists with bits of the Shakespeare play, including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern\u2019s embassy to England with the exiled Hamlet in tow, and beyond to Shakespeare\u2019s final scene at Elsinore when the only one left standing is Hamlet\u2019s friend Horatio (played by Nic Few).<\/p>\n
It is not until the Ambassador utters the 11th hour phrase, \u201cRosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead,\u201d that our intrepid, bewildered duo realizes that they are indeed dead. The fun along the way is absolutely delicious.<\/p>\n
Whittaker and Lavelle on stage, and Stoppard and Noble behind the scenes cannot be praised enough for providing the high point of summer. It is a fitting farewell to Noble, who completes his final season as Shakespeare Festival artistic director.<\/p>\n
There are few places left on the planet where one may enjoy true repertory. This is one. Make sure to add one or all of these productions to your summer entertainment agenda. Doing so will allow you to enjoy the glory of repertory, which is seeing the same actors play multiple roles within a week, and even less.<\/p>\n