Trevor Nunn realizes a forty year old dream by at last directing Tom Stoppard’s first masterpiece Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead as the second production of his captivating season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
A verbally scintillating and richly inventive play, Stoppard retells Hamlet through the eyes of two of its minor characters. Vaguely conscious that they are bit parts in a much bigger story of which they have no direct knowledge, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hilariously and poignantly inhabit a world completely beyond their grasp.
The cast features Samuel Barnett as Rosencrantz, Jamie Parker as Guildenstern .
Joining Samuel Barnett (Rosencrantz), Jamie Parker (Guildenstern) are Chris Andrew Mellon (The Player King), Michael Benz (Horatio), Fiona Gillies (Gertrude), Tom Golding (Fortinbras), Charles Hamblett (Alfred), Jack Hawkins (Hamlet), Andrew Jarvis (Polonius/Ambassador), Katherine Press (Ophelia) and James Simmons (Claudius) as well as Trevor Allan Davies, Tomm Coles, Jody Elin Machin, Zac Fox, Elisabeth Hopper, Greg Last, James Northcote and Stephen Pallister.
Set design is by Simon Higlett, with costumes by Fotini Dimou, lighting by Tim Mitchell, sound by Paul Groothuis and music by Steven Edis. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is produced by the Chichester Festival Theatre, the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Triumph Entertainment Limited.