Southern Utah University’s theater and dance department will present Tom Stoppard’s comedy “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” Sept. 29 and Oct. 2, 5, 6, and 7 at 7:30 p.m. The show will be performed at the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre in Cedar City.
Bailey Smith — a senior from Pullman, Washington — plays one of the title characters, Guildenstern.
“This play reflects what Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are constantly asking: ‘Who are we and what are we doing here?’” Smith said. “Though these two are placed in a particularly absurd situation, it is something that individuals in any given circumstances ask themselves. Audiences can connect to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who really are two sides of the same coin, by experiencing the pair as they try to figure out what’s going on.”
“Working with our guest director, J.R. Sullivan, is a unique opportunity that I have been fortunate enough to take advantage of,” Smith said. “He is a professional director currently working in the business. Through his help, I was able to grow as an actor and a professional myself and glean an in-depth training by creating this show.”
Sullivan was formerly artistic director at the Utah Shakespeare Festival and has directed other works there, including “Hamlet,” “King Lear,” “Amadeus,” “Richard III,” “Stones in His Pockets,” “The Odd Couple,” and “The Glass Menagerie.”
“Working with the SUU cast, crew and design team has been a joy for me,” Sullivan said. “This play, one of Tom Stoppard’s very best and his first major success as a playwright, is an extraordinary delve into meaning, purpose, and the always comic human condition of seeking reason in the inescapably absurd. It is a tragicomic backstage look at two minor characters in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet.’ Tom Stoppard turns Shakespeare’s tragedy into an inverse of itself, and thus a comedy about two everyman types who happen to be us as much as they are two nonentities named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.”
Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for alumni with card, and $5 for youth. SUU faculty, staff, and students can get in free with a valid ID card. More information and tickets are available at suu.edu/pva/ta.
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