ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern can't figure out the behavior of others or their own fate. The two minor characters from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, are assigned to take care of the prince of Denmark at the behest of the king. Tom Stappord turned the undistinguishable pair into the main protagonists of his comedy, in which Shakespeare's play is retold through their point of view. Their inability to cope with what they see or to understand what is happening is absurd and deeply comic.

Tom Stappord had his breakthrough with this early work. It plays virtuously with different facets of reality. In 1990 he wrote and directed a film adaptation of the play. The film won the Golden Lion at the 47th Venice International Film Festival.