From Thursday, Nov. 9 to Tuesday, Nov. 14, the Union theater department will be performing “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead” in the W.D. Powell Theatre, with showings at 7:30 p.m. everyday but Sunday, when there will be 2:30 p.m. matinee.
The show is based on William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and follows a (mostly) comedic interpretation of two minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who were close friends of Hamlet but sent by King Claudius to spy on him when the king suspects that Hamlet knows he killed his brother, the previous King of Denmark.
The play relies mostly on absurdist humor, such as switching between modern-day and Shakespearean English throughout the show and a theater troupe that includes a male cross-dresser following the main characters around throughout the entire play.
Jacob Beals, freshman theater major, and Samuel Edgren, senior theater and English major, play the leads, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, respectively. Beals takes pride in having an experienced veteran like Edgren to look to to lead him through his first show at Union.
“Having Sam as a co-lead – he’s a great mentor through all this,” Beals said. “I’ve loved theater since I was a kid, and this is a great way to step forward in my life.”
In addition to Beals, the play features three other freshmen, and Edgren is enlivened by the number of freshmen participating in theater already this year.
“They’re showing commitment to something they love early on, and that’s really encouraging,” he said.
David Burke, director and professor of theater, first read this play in 1968 in his freshman year of college, just a year after it came out.
“It’s definitely come full-circle for me,” Burke said with a laugh.
General admission tickets can be purchased at the door for $9 or online for $7. Union students, faculty and staff get $2 off the general admission prices.
