Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern Are Dead
Review, The Stage
Simon MacDonald
This is the second home-grown show produced by the Jersey Opera
House. From the moment we see a sparse room with a chair, a suitcase and two
bowler hats – all bathed in eerie blue light – before passing through
Escher-inspired Elsinore and journeying to the last corpse-ridden tableau, the
audience is under no illusion as to which absurdist world it inhabits. And what
better way to point up the Beckettian comedy of Stoppard’s play than by the
daring and inspired casting of stand-up comics Terry Alderton and Joe Pasquale
as Hamlet’s college chums.
There is more than a hint of Abbot and Costello about the two as
they stumble about in the philosophical darkness created by Stoppard. It is to
Ian Stephens’ credit that he makes the squeaky-voiced Pasquale the intellectual
heavyweight of the duo. His Guildenstern evokes our sympathy as we will him to
take his musings beyond the purely hypothetical. When he loses his cool, as he
does frequently, we are there with him, our hands tight around Rosencrantz’s
throat.
While Pasquale seems at ease with the role, Alderton, reflecting
his character’s uncertainty, takes a little longer to settle into the pace of
proceedings. The two are at their best when laughs come both quick and loud. It
is at these moments we see their true comic talent and timing. Robert Duncan as
the Player excels, seizing upon every word and nuance as nourishment for his
actorly soul. His ‘death’ at the hands of Guildenstern is expertly milked. His
line, “We’re actors – we’re the opposite of people”, raises the biggest laugh
of the evening.
This production has a lot to recommend it and,
with a small amount of bedding in, Jersey audiences have the chance to catch a
seminal play that contains much to be admired.