Rozencrantz & Guildenstern

Ο Ρόζενκραντζ και ο Γκίλντενστερν είναι νεκροί.

Διαβάστε το, δείτε το. Αξίζει τον κόπο. Αν μη τι άλλο, για το παιχνίδι των ερωτήσεων με τους απίθανους κανόνες!!!

Η twisted πλευρά του Αμλετ (που τον είδαμε παρα-προβληματισμένο στο προηγούμενο ποστ...)

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is a humorous, absurdist, tragic and existentialist play by Tom Stoppard, first staged in 1966. A 1990 film version starred Gary Oldman and Tim Roth as the title characters and featured Richard Dreyfuss as the Player. The play concerns the misadventures and musings of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters from William Shakespeare's Hamlet who are friends of the Prince, focusing on their actions while the events of Hamlet occur as background. The story is structured as the inverse of Hamlet; the title characters are the leads, not minor players, and Hamlet himself has only a small part.

The duo appears on stage here when they are off-stage in Shakespeare's play, with the exception of a few short scenes in which the dramatic events of both plays coincide. In Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are used by the king in an attempt to find out about Hamlet's motives and to plot against him. Hamlet however mocks them derisively and outwits them, so that they, rather than he, are killed in the end. Thus from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's perspective, the action in Hamlet does not make much sense.

The two characters, brought into being within the puzzling universe of the play, by an act of the playwright's creation, and those they encounter, often confuse their names, as they have interchangeable yet periodically unique identities. They are portrayed as two clowns or fools in a world that is beyond their understanding; they cannot identify any reliable feature or the significance in words or events.

Their own memories are not reliable or complete and they misunderstand each other as they stumble through philosophical arguments while not realizing the implications to themselves. They often state deep philosophical truths during their nonsensical ramblings, however they depart from these ideas as quickly as they come to them. At times one appears to be more enlightened than the other; however this position is traded-off throughout the course of the drama.

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Questions (game)

Questions is a game which is played by asking questions. Two players are necessary.
Play begins when the first player asks the second a question.
Player 2 must respond to the question with another question.
A player's response must be part of the continuing conversation, i.e., one cannot reply with a non-sequitur.

Scoring is done by foul. When a foul is called on a player, his opponent is awarded one point. A foul is called for a "statement" if the player neglects to form his reply as a question, for "hesitation" if the player takes too long in replying (or replies with a non-verbal 'grunt'), for "repetition" if the player repeats a question already asked (game not match), for "rhetoric" if the player asks a rhetorical question, and for "non-sequitur" if a player responds to his query with an unrelated question.

When a player receives a foul, a point is awarded to his opponent. First player to get three points wins a game. Matches are played to best out of three games.

The Game of Questions is featured prominently in the Tom Stoppard play, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and in an abridged form in the 1990 film adaptation of the same.

Ros: We could play at questions.
Guil: What good would that do?
Ros: Practice!
Guil: Statement! One - love.
Ros: Cheating!
Guil: How?
Ros: I hadn't started yet.
Guil: Statement. Two - love.
Ros: Are you counting that?
Guil: What?
Ros: Are you counting that?
Guil: Foul! No repetitions. Three - love. First game to...
Ros: I'm not going to play if you're going to be like that.
Guil: Whose serve?
Ros: Hah?
Guil: Foul! No grunts. Love - one.
Ros: Whose go?
Guil: Why?
Ros: Why not?
Guil: What for?
Ros: Foul! No synonyms! One - all.
Guil: What in God's name is going on?
Ros: Foul! No rhetoric. Two - one.
Guil: What does it all add up to?
Ros: Can't you guess?
Guil: Were you addressing me?
Ros: Is there anyone else?
Guil: Who?
Ros: How would I know?
Guil: Why do you ask?
Ros: Are you serious?
Guil: Was that rhetoric?
Ros: No.
Guil: Statement! Two - all. Game point.
Ros: What's the matter with you today?
Guil: When?
Ros: What?
Guil: Are you deaf?
Ros: Am I dead?
Guil: Yes or no?
Ros: Is there a choice?
Guil: Is there a God?
Ros: Foul! No non sequiturs, three - two, one game all.
Guil (seriously): What's your name?
Ros: What's yours?
Guil: I asked you first.
Ros: Statement. One - love.
Guil: What's your name when you're at home?
Ros: What's yours?
Guil: When I'm at home?
Ros: Is it different at home?
Guil: What home?
Ros: Haven't you got one?
Guil: Why do you ask?
Ros: What are you driving at?
Guil (with emphasis): What's your name?!
Ros: Repetition. Two - love. Match point to me.
Guil (seizing him violently): WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
Ros: Rhetoric! Game and match!

Excerpt from Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, by Tom Stoppard.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Questions_%28game%29"
See also: http://www.sff.net/people/mberry/rosen.htp