After months of rehearsing and working hard on her lines and accent and emotions, Cora and her castmates put on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead this past weekend.
In this rather quirky play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - I'll go with R and G from hereon - find themselves in medieval Denmark's royal court, without much memory of their pasts or of what they're doing there.
In actuality, they are two minor characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet, and playwright Tom Stoppard in the mid 1960s reimagined things with R&G as the leads. They don't remember their pasts -- because they only exist in the play, when they're present with Hamlet and his court.
It's a very existential drama, with humor and tragedy woven throughout. And, as the title suggests, they are marching inexorably toward their own demise, and we watch as they come to a slow realization of that fact, and come to grips with it.
Can I say that Cora was amazing? Wow. She was. She was funny, she was committed. She WAS Rosencrantz. Her accent was solid, her pacing stellar. In her poignant, sad scenes, I had tears in my eyes! Hey, it's hard watching your girl die over and over!
We're not allowed to post filmed scenes because we don't own the rights, but in
this clip here, you can see Benedict Cumberbatch playing Rosencrantz. And in this pic, Cora is doing this scene.
These two young men, both seniors, also were excellent. On the left is the Player, the man who runs an acting troupe that comes to court as well, and attempts to cheer up Hamlet but instead throws the court in disarray. And Ben, Guildenstern, was amazing as well.
These photos were taken by my dad when he shot their dress rehearsal and took the cast photo.
At the start of the play, G is flipping coins, and the keep coming down heads - one after another, dozens of times in a row. It causes G to think something weird is going on, and he has a long monologue exploring the possibilities. R, meanwhile, is just happy to be winning all of G's coins!
Ben's mom took this one - they were a PERFECT pairing, such a naturally funny combo with their obvious size difference.
I'm grateful for such great photos to remember this experience!
In actuality, they are two minor characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet, and playwright Tom Stoppard in the mid 1960s reimagined things with R&G as the leads. They don't remember their pasts -- because they only exist in the play, when they're present with Hamlet and his court.
1 comment:
I bet it was a great experience ,Well Done once again Cora glad it was a success. Love You Lots ,Nan and Pop xxxxxxxx
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