Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502170011
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Virginia Tech's theater arts department will present the play, a view of Hamlet through the eyes of Hamlet's two friends, tonight and five more times through the end of February in Squires Studio Theatre on campus.
The comedy was written by Tom Stoppard in 1967.
The Tech production will be directed by Gregory Justice, an associate professor in the theater arts department, and Charles J. "Jack" Dudley, director of Tech's honors program.
This is the ninth collaborative production for the two men, who have worked together since 1984.
"This is Gregory's dream play," Dudley said this week.
"I worked on this production as an actor 15 years ago or so and I've always liked it since then," Justice said. "I've only been directing for 10 years. ... This was always one of the plays I wanted to do."
The play features a large cast; and lighting, sound and the stage itself are as important as the characters.
"We use a lot of projections and movement," Dudley said. "There's a lot going on. The volume of the theater changes. We cross genders in the casting. Guildenstern is a female. Hamlet is a female. Ophelia is a male."
The play is sometimes absurd and impossible to describe easily.
The action begins when the two guards are called to the Court of Elsinore to keep a watch over a vengeful Prince Hamlet.
"What makes the play so interesting is that the two weren't sure what they were even there for," Justice said. "An important feature ... is that the audience doesn't need to know the plot of Hamlet to understand the play."
But just in case, a short play, called "Hamlet in Three," (because it's only about three minutes long) will be performed 20 minutes and 12 minutes before the show to give the audience some background. "Basically someone speaks a famous line and then drops dead," Justice said with a laugh.
In "Hamlet," Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are minor characters, the prince's school chums, thrust into the center of a drama. In this play of their own, they are "bewildered innocents" searching to understand the plot twists that unfold around them.
"We watch what Rosencrantz and Guildenstern do and think as Hamlet unfolds," Dudley said.
In Hamlet, the two guards die in the end. As they move toward that moment in this play, they become increasingly introspective about the nature of life. "I think what Thomas Stoppard has done is that he has dealt with the non-linear nature of life," Dudley said.
In the play, it is unclear what kind of death the characters experience - metaphorical or real. "I'm not going to give away the end," Dudley said. "We're hoping that people will enjoy it. It's a tremendous experience."
Rosencrantz is played by David Norris, a theater arts student from Norfolk; Amy Wilhoite, a theater arts student from Charlottesville, is Guildenstern.
Justice has been associated with the theater arts at Tech for 12 years and has directed numerous other plays such as "Bedtime Story," "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "On the Verge."
The play will be presented Feb. 16-18 and Feb. 22-25 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 19 at 2:00 p.m. in the Studio Theatre in Squires Student Center.
Tickets are on sale at the Squires box office. Prices are $5 for students and senior citizens and $7 for the general public. Discount vouchers for large groups or classes are available through the management team of the theater arts department. For more information, call 231-5921.
Staff writers Dan Ferrante and Madelyn Rosenberg contributed information for this story.
by CNB