Theater Reviews

Jun 3, 2008 - Reno Little Theater's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" is alive and well

By Jack Neal

Reno Little Theater’s presentation of the Tony Award winning “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” is alive and well in Reno, Nevada.

“Don’t you see, we’re actors. We’re the opposite of people.”

Ah, how true!

Playwright Tom Stoppard’s new twist on Shakespeare’s old play, “Hamlet,” sets Shakespeare’s major characters in orbit around his minor ones for an encounter of a weird kind. Comments and questions bounce back and forth with the dexterity of a well-played ping-pong game as Rosencrantz (the formidable Scott Reeves) and Guildenstern (the equally formidable Joshua Jessup) exchange quips about the existence of existence.

“The only beginning is birth and the only end is death. If you can’t count on that, what can you count on?” “Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where’s it going to end?” and so on and so forth. To hear and see more of this sort of thing see Reno Little Theater’s excellent presentation of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,” which opened Saturday night (5/31/08).

Some of the play’s funniest moments come from the interaction between Hamlet and the chaps who now star (as Hamlet once did), as when Guildenstern asks, “Where is it going to end?” and Hamlet (the suave, dark and moody Nestor Campos, Jr.) answers, “Ah, that is the question!”

The collection of actors – alas, all the world’s a stage – who happen upon this screwball twosome are led by a character known only as The Player (played with unrelenting flair by Kevin Molina) dashing off such morsels as, “Death is what actors do best.” Bits and pieces of Shakespearean dialogue (thank God for public domain) throw glimpses of famous scenes into Stoppard’s mix. Shakespeare’s tragedy now morphed into comedy is hilariously seen just a few moments at a time through the skewed eyes – lost as they are in their own world of self-importance - of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Directed with taste and pace by Michael Peters, Peters has done what fine directors do – load their roster with talented actors who can propel a play’s usual suspects into vignettes of magical stagecraft.

There is not a weak performance in the lot.

Reeves and Jessup are smashingly just right. Molina is the ham that makes Dr. Seuss’s green eggs irrelevant. Queen Gertrude, whose time on stage in Stoppard’s turn of events is minimal, is elegantly managed via the presence of Diane Peters. Also (now) in minimal roles, Claudius (Dale Fast), Polonius (Bob Gabrielli), Ophelia (Dalia E. Gerdel) and Alfred (Colin M. Coate) are each given their moments in the limelight by polished performances that shine both alone and in tandem with the play’s action. As for the motley crew of players and marvelous tragedians all, John Knott, Gregory Lintz, Jaryd Neiman and Mike Visser have a field day with juicy tidbit roles that amuse.

Production values are spectacularly on the mark. The costumes – from the Ashland, Oregon Shakespeare Festival – are handsome. The lighting and sound designs are smartly brought off (credit technical director Doug Mishler). Julie Robertson and Julie Douglass are the producers. Kirk Gardner is the assistant director.

As Rosencrantz says, a good story should have “a beginning, a middle and an end.” “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” somewhat challenges that “beginning, middle and end” concept. It also challenges intellects and senses of humor, and that makes a good production - which this is - highly entertaining.

Reno Little Theater’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” can be seen May 31, June 6, 7, 13, 14 (2008) at 7:30 p.m., and June 1 (the performance reviewed), 8, 15 (2008) at 2 p.m., in the Hug High School Theater, 2880 Sutro Street (at North McCarran Boulevard), Reno, Nevada. The performance (with two intermissions) runs two hours twenty minutes. For information call 775-329-0661, or go on line at renolittletheater.org.