‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ @ Lewisville Playhouse
—Jan Farrington
“The beginning is birth, the end is death….[But] what’s the game? What are the rules?….We are entitled to some direction!” So says Rosencrantz…or Guildenstern. We aren’t sure which. And they’re not sure it matters.
Have you been feeling like that too? That life is shoving you around, changing under your feet, moving you like a pawn on a chessboard—with no warnings, no explanations, no clear road ahead? And not to be dark as pitch, but the ending is always the same (see above).
Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead hit the London theatre scene like a sonic boom in 1967, and flung the young playwright straight into legend. Happily for us, he was no one-hit wonder, but followed up over the decades with one amazing play after another: absurdist, time-traveling, epic, romantic, scientific, you name it. Stoppard died in 2025, and we are left to wonder what he may have experienced in “the end” he wrote about so often.
Lewisville Playhouse and director Chris-James Cognetta have pulled a live-wire cast together for their production of this avant-garde play that became a classic—and with only a minor quibble here and there, it works wonderfully well, fusing existential darkness with Stoppard’s lively comic skills. As always with this language-happy writer, we in the seats need to sit up straight and pay attention as the words, words, words fly by.
In case you’re new to the room, R&G is a take-off on Hamlet, with focus not on the main action, but on what’s happening with two of the play’s most insignificant characters (yes, them), who are old school friends of the Danish prince. Most of the action stays with the two of them, but at irregular intervals snatches of Hamlet’s action and dialogue pass through the “place” they seem to be stuck in…and our boys try once again to figure out how they fit in to this bigger picture.
It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. The lady behind me in the concession line at intermission (when I enthused about the play) said flatly it was the worst thing she’d ever seen at the Playhouse. (All the same, she was a big fan of the company.) But a lost-looking tourist couple we met on Main Street before the show (to our surprise, they changed plans and bought a pair of tickets!) were fascinated, and made it through to the big round of applause at the end.
Lewisville Playhouse artistic director Zachary Cantrell plays Rosencrantz (yes, I’m sure), with Braden Chavers as Guildenstern. Cantrell gives his Rosencrantz a lighter vibe: though he sometimes gives in to depression and fear, Ros’s default setting is almost cheerful, and certainly more patient than his partner Guil—who is plagued by his constant digging into the whys and wherefores, and by trying to reason his way to some sort of logical existence. That philosophy stuff can make you crazy.
Together, I liked the quiet moments when R leans a head on G’s shoulder, both looking doubtfully into the void ahead (where we are sitting, and feeling doubtful ourselves). Both keep their characters engaging, though I would wish Chavers (who gets the lion’s share of the duo’s “I’m Really Pissed” moments) would find more ways to present rage and anger than just “spitting mad.” We get the idea, but we lose some of the clarity of his lines. Still, we admire how they keep on keeping on, even though they can hardly remember a thing about their pasts, and are constantly improving to cover their un-knowing. And somehow, they feel like pals.
Both are barefoot and dressed in modern white clothes that hint at escape from a martial arts class. In costume designer Wendy Barrett’s plan, it makes a great contrast to the blacks worn by everyone else, from Hamlet to Ophelia to the road-tour company of Tragedians bringing theater to the far corners of Denmark. The Player himself (Mikey Abrams) splits the difference with a zebra striped black-and-white suit. The actors look chic and edgy in Barrett’s many variations of style, pattern, and texture.
Cantrell and director Cognetta have kept the set minimal: some boxes for hiding and discovery, and a red curtain that doubles as shroud, cape, blanket, or sometimes a coverup for Alfie (Dylan Cassady-Horton), a cute Tragedian who seems to have mislaid most of his costume. Cassady-Horton has fun doubling as both the sexy “ingenue” and old Polonius in Hamlet, hobbling about with his knarly cane.
The Tragedians double as pirates and courtiers, and pop in and out of the Shakespeare part of the show—as Prince Hamlet (John Davenport), Ophelia (Diana Siotos), Horatio (Major Vincent)—and the Danish king and queen (aka Uncle Claudius and Mom), played by Travis Britton and Bethni Lown. It’s a whirl, but the staging of it all is amusing—and after a while we just accept and enjoy the switcharoos. The twistiest character of all is the Player, who never gives us a straight story. He’s all theatrical artifice—and glad of it. “Times being what they are,” he gripes (trying to figure a way to make money off R&G)…but isn’t that what theater people always say, century after century?
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a challenging play, a masterpiece—but don’t let that stop you. It’s full of wonderful wordplay, witty (and slapsticky) comedy, important questions…and very few answers. It’s a relatable, human piece of High Theatre…and in the end, who knows?
Somehow, that feels comforting—to be among the crowds of the lost and wandering…not just alone in the woods.
WHEN: April 10-26, 2026
WHERE: Lewisville Playhouse, 160 W. Main St., Lewisville TX
WEB: lewisvilleplayhouse.org
