Reading: "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" at Shotgun Players

This is not going to be my usual reaction/review of a play or reading. Completely unexpected to me, a few weeks ago I got an email from my friends at the Shotgun Players, asking whether I'd like to participate in a very small role in the final play of their staged-reading series. Given that a big part of the just-ended repertory season was Shotgun's unique presentation of "Hamlet," it's only appropriate that they would follow that up with Tom Stoppard's riff, "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead".

As it turned out, the rehearsal and performance schedule meshed nicely with my calendar, so I decided to go for it! So my professional theatrical debut was a little role in this fun production. As such, I won't pretend to any sort of detachment: I had a blast, got to know the cast and crew much better, and felt like we all did a very credible job. So in lieu of any kind of "review," I thought I'd write up a few thoughts on my experience.

The Play

In modern parlance, you'd like of have to call "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern" a mashup. In many ways, it reflects Samuel Beckett's classic "Waiting for Godot," in that it primarily consists of two characters, rather befuddled, trying to figure out what they're doing, where they're going, and why. Stoppard chooses for his characters the two minor roles from Shakespeare's "Hamlet" who are childhood friends of Hamlet, sent for by the new king to try to elicit the cause of Hamlet's melancholy.

Amidst all their confusion, the title characters keep glimpsing scenes from Shakespeare's play, providing a framework for Stoppard's creative tapestry. He fills in the holes between R&G's brief on-stage appearances with new dialogue where the two muse on their purpose and destiny.

The other creative derivative from "Hamlet" is the troupe of players who eventually perform the play within a play ("The Murder of Gonzago") before the royals. Led by a player known as The Player, this ragtag band of struggling tragedians plays a recurring and clownish role in "R&G," with The Player serving as a connecting foil among all the other characters in the show.

Like "Hamlet," "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern" ends with much carnage, but it also contains some really good discussions of the role of art and artists, the meaning of life and death, and the laws of probability.

All told, it's a fun play, with lots of the clever dialogue one expects from Stoppard, but it's extra fun if you're really steeped in "Hamlet" as many in the Shotgun community are this year.

This Production

Taking advantage of the audience's familiarity with Shotgun's "Hamlet" allowed director Nick Medina (a cast member of that show) to pull some extra laughs out of the script by using or playing off of Shotgun's actual staging, costuming, and sound cues (and performing on the very set). Add a few more members of the cast (Kevin Clarke and Cathleen Riddley) to the ensemble, reprising and parodying some of their roles from the play, and it makes for much merriment.

Eli Wirtschafter and Caleb Cabrera (who was the understudy for "Hamlet") took on the roles of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, respectively, with Sarah Mitchell as The Player. Those three have the bulk of the lines in the play. The rest of us alternated between being the band of goofy tragedians who would eventually put on "The Murder of Gonzago" and reproducing bits of "Hamlet" as needed.

For example, in my role as Polonius, I had brief scenes trying to get some sense out of Hamlet (Jacinta Sutphin), fawned over and facilitated the king and queen (Clarke and Riddley), and transferred the king's irritation through to my daughter, Ophelia (Leigh Rondon-Davis). Or while The Player negotiated with R&G, the band of tragedians would clown on the sidelines.

The Experience

The other side of the curtain. That was one of my big impressions: standing behind the curtain while other players were performing in front of it, listening intently for my cue to go back in. I was a little surprised by how much mental energy went into just making sure I knew where I was, though I will say that by the third (and final) night of the reading, I felt like I had it down. Given that we had only a few days of rehearsal, I was glad to achieve even a little level of comfort.

Rehearsing was great. Everyone else in the cast was either a seasoned theater pro (either onstage on as crew) or at least reasonably experienced: way more than me, to be sure. So it was pretty easy to follow their routines, watch their approaches to the activity, and follow along as best I could. The whole group was extremely welcoming and supportive of having a rookie in their midst, and helped me find my feet pretty quickly. Given the limited amount of rehearsal time we had available, I was impressed with how focused and organized it all was.

My other great memory is of hanging around backstage with the cast and crew. Because of the demands of the just-finished repertory season, there were crates and cases and props for five plays everywhere, making things a bit snug. Some of the cases were cleared out between our performances, so by the end there was much more room available to us. But just hanging out with "my fellow actors" (ha!), getting to know them better, chatting about this and that, was by far the most fun: even more fun than the performing. I can certainly see how the cast of a real play, over the course of a run, would develop pretty tight bonds. Although I knew virtually everyone in the production at least casually, after these few days together I definitely feel like we're now friends, and I have a much greater appreciation for how hard it is to do what they do for a living.

Although I enjoyed the experience, and would happily do it again, I can't imagine trying to make a career of it. I've always respected actors and theater crews, but I have a much deeper understanding and respect now.

Finally, I feel a little bad that I didn't give more of my friends and family the chance to see my performance. I knew my part was very tiny, and I only found out about it shortly before the readings. Plus, all the shows were sold out before I even got in the cast. So for all those who upbraided me for not tipping you off, I apologize, and promise to do better should the occasion arise again.

Bottom Line

I never really had a desire to perform on stage, but having had a little taste of it, I can certainly understand why it appeals. People keep asking me whether this is the start of something new for me, and I can honestly say I don't think so. I wouldn't turn down the chance to do a little more, but I definitely don't see it becoming a big part of my life. It was very nice to have had the opportunity to see what it's like, even a little bit, though. I'm grateful to the folks at Shotgun for thinking of me and giving me the opportunity, and especially grateful to the pros in the cast and crew for letting me play along while they worked.