Tom Stoppard: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

Under normal circumstances I would now indulge in my newest obsession and read one or another of Bill Bryson's books. But it is not to be as I have to work through my list of 10 books.

The book that impressed me least when I read the first 10 pages of each book was this book. I wanted to get over it as fast as possible and move on to other books (as of this writing I am already reading the next book). Getting through this short volume (120 pages with lots of space inbetween) dragged on for three evenings. Finally I succeeded and rewarded myself by watching the DVD of the play, which had been waiting to be watched for countless months. Thanks a lot that the movie is available in German: I found it tough enough to follow the action, as Shakespeare with his difficult language kept phasing in and out of the play.

Of course it is the other way around: R & G are stuck in their play and once in a while the Shakespeare play in which they only participate marginally gets in and out of their play for a short while. They would rather be in "Hamlet" than in their own life, it seems.

At the end of "R & G A D" they finally understand: "There must have been a moment, at the beginning, where we could have said - no" to participate in "Hamlet", which kills them, but - no need to worry: there are not going to die (at least not in the text; they do in the movie, i.e. you see two ropes tightening). How can they die when their death in "Hamlet" is not shown. Instead, for them, death is "the absence of presence".

Before I saw the movie, I wrote in my notes, "We know what is happening in Hamlet. No suspense. They are so insignificant characters, that not even Stoppard rewards them with the heroic end that they got in 'Hamlet'". But the play is not about them playing in "Hamlet". Rather it is an effort of a playwright to successfully expand on another, immortal, play from an absolutely astonishing point of view.

But I would never have been able to understand the play without having seen the movie, which is extremely charming with two enchanting actors: Tim Roth and - of all actors - Gary Oldman. Imagine: Gary Oldman who is so famous for his grizzly characters, in movies like Leon and The Fifth Element. And he played Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK!

Has my enthusiam come across?