Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is an absurdist existentialist tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966. The play expands upon the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet the courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The action of Stoppard’s play takes place mainly in the wings of Shakespeare’s with brief appearances of major characters from Hamlet who enact fragments of the original’s scenes.
author
Tom Stoppard
character in play
Alfred, Horatio, Fortinbras, Gertrude, Guildenstern, Hamlet, King Claudius, Ophelia, Polonius, Rosencrantz, Soldiers courtiers and musicians, The Player, Tragedians