Madness

When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern greet Claudius, Guildenstern does a lanky curtsy (worth noting Gil is at least a head taller than Rosie), and Rosencrantz does the most awkward bow I've ever seen in my life. It's like he went to bow, and then something in his brain tried to make him curtsy, but then he tried to mentally override that command, and the result is him sort of bending at the waist and going bow-legged like the world’s least confident ballerina

Polonius is just a guy. Like, he talks a whole lot, but he comes off less annoying and more like a regular dad. Naturally, he still vexes Hamlet because he's on Claudius' side

When Hamlet does 'To Be or Not To Be' he has a gun with him, and at one point, points it in his mouth, then under his chin, and considers pulling the trigger

He uses said gun to shoot Polonius

He gets Polonius' blood on himself when he checks the body, and wipes some on Gertrude's white dress

Gertrude and Hamlet really feel like mother and son in that scene, like, she's horrified by what he's done, but she clearly still sees him as her boy

When trying to get Hamlet to tell him where Polonius' body is, Claudius holds Hamlet's head in a bucket of mop water for uncomfortably long periods of time while guards look on, unsure whether to stop him or not

When Hamlet and Ophelia talk, it's still cruel, but it does feel like Hamlet cares for her. It feels like he's pushing her away to save her or whatever. Then he goes to leave, and (it seems) sees Claudius and Polonius hiding, and it turns from caring to bitter anger

After this, there's what I can only describe as an interpretive dance depicting Ophelia when she (eventually) drowns

Instead of giving flowers, Ophelia gives objects. A crumpled up piece of paper for Laertes (rosemary), a book for Gertrude (pansies), and a cross for Claudius (rue), which I might add, she tosses to Claudius, and he catches perfectly, then holds tightly for the rest of the scene

A lot is cut from this production, and I think some of it will be controversial. Like how it ends right at Horatio's last words to Hamlet ("Goodnight, sweet prince! And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!") meaning we never see if Horatio gets off the sinking ship...

It's set on a boat, and the stage tilts to mimic a boat, including the ending when the ship sinks and the stage tilts way up so actors slide off stage 'into the sea'. We'll come back to this later

Everyone else in the play talks like they're in a play. Hamlet talks like a person. To be more exact, a person who has a lot of feelings and is tripping over his own words to get them out. When the actor playing Hamlet first started talking, I genuinely thought he was corpsing for a few seconds

When he and Horatio first hug, it first feels like a typical friend hug, but then it lasts just a little longer, and Horatio moves one hand from Hamlet's back to cradle his head

There are people dancing during the first couple of scene transitions (until the boat is in trouble and they run around with life jackets on), and in one instance, Horatio dances with another man

Now would be a good time to mention that this whole production takes place over ONE EVENING. It's set at Claudius' coronation/wedding to Gertrude, and the time of night flashes up before each scene. The play starts around 9PM and ends at 1AM.

Now, this, of course, begs several questions like: How were Rosencrantz and Guildenstern summoned so fast? How did Laertes get back so fast? And the answer seems to be: Don't worry about it :) We're working off OFMD boat logic here

Speaking of Rosie and Gil: They're American, and I kind of love that for them. I love it when productions 'other' them in some way, to make them feel out of place. TBH, there were times it felt like THIS was the 'Hamlet' that 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead' takes place in. Which leads me to

The players. The head player is the same actor who plays the ghost of Hamlet's father, and this is acknowledged in play! When Hamlet sees him for the first time, he screams! Then desperately tries to cover for himself

Hamlet barks at people. Literally barks and growls like a dog. Love that for him

He also walks around barefoot for most of the play

They moved 'To Be or Not To Be' to the end of Act One, which cuts off right before Hamlet goes to (not) murder Claudius.

this is so cool and also rosencrantz and guildenstern's sign names are killing me lol

HAMLET (dir. Rupert Goold, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 2025)

raise me a dais of silk and down;                   hang it with vair and purple dyes; carve it in doves and pomegranates,                   and peacocks with a hundred eyes; work it in gold and silver grapes,                   in leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;

A tiny journal-ish gif-comic from a few tweets I made last night!  I believed this kind of stuff until I was 14 or so, which is pretty old in retrospect…

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