In January 2009 the RSC kindly supported showings of Cressida’s site-specific project of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Novello. Staged promenade around the west-end theatre the audience were led around the space by an RSC usher as if Greg Doran’s production of Hamlet was taking place on stage. Unlike the Players, Rosencrantz and Guildernstern remained oblivious throughout the action to the fact that they were in a Shakespeare production or a theatre, thinking merely that they had arrived in Elsinore. The ornate foyer, grand chandeliers, sweeping staircases, secret FOH passages, plush auditorium, open wings and palatial stage made it the perfect setting to explore Stoppard’s meta-theatrical masterpiece.

Cast
Rosencrantz: Sam Alexander
Guildenstern: Tom Davey
Player King: Roderick Smith
Alfred: Ryan Gage/Oliver Gilbert
Hamlet: Edward Bennett
Ophelia: Natalie Walter