Who wrote the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead?
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, often referred to as just Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, is an absurdist, existential 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 main setting is Denmark. 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. Between these episodes the two protagonists voice their confusion at the progress of events
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead execute "them". The troupe recreates the duel scene from "Hamlet", and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern finally accept their ultimate fate. The play ends with the final scene from "Hamlet" in which the English Ambassador arrives and announces that "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead." The play opens with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern betting on coin flips. Rosencrantz, who bets heads each time, wins ninety-two flips in a row. The extreme unlikeliness of this event according to the laws of probability leads Guildenstern to suggest that they may be "within un-, sub- or supernatural forces". The audience learns why they are where they are: