Turning Hamlet On Its Head

Up-and-coming actor Tom Clarke stars as Rosencrantz in the Auckland Theatre Company’s Kensington Swan season of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead – a witty, insideout perspective on Shakespeare and the comedy of tragedy.

Centuries ago, in about 1600, Shakespeare wrote Hamlet – a play you might recall from your high school days. And in that play, two of Hamlet’s friends – Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – are recruited by the king to lead Hamlet unknowingly to his death (spoiler: they are killed instead because Hamlet is very clever and rightfully mistrusting).

In Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are both such minor characters that their deaths occur offstage – it is merely announced in the final scene that “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead”. But the pair are given the chance to take centre stage in Oscar-winning playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard’s play, named after that iconic line.

In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the two characters exist in an in-between place, a sort of offstagein-the-wings-land, waiting for their turn to be involved in the story of Hamlet. And in a reversal of misfortune, they now find themselves the headline act.

“I mean, from the outset we all know these two characters are moving towards an inescapable fate – they’re gonna die,” says Tom Clarke, who plays Rosencrantz in the Auckland Theatre Company’s Kensington Swan season of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

But what makes this play a comedy of tragic events – similar to Shakespeare’s works – is that the duo themselves are unaware of their fate. “So we get to watch these two people grapple with the dire urgency of having to make choices – but failing to make any at all. It’s also funny because in Hamlet they are so interchangeable. The two characters barely know who they are – Guildenstern at one point can’t remember which of the two she is, and gets angry at Rosencrantz for answering to both names,” says Clarke.

There’s still no escaping their fate as pawns in Hamlet’s game of thrones – but before they are outwitted, the

pair grab the spotlight as fearlessly funny commentators on their absurd predicament and the general chaos of the universe. “Guildenstern [played by Freya Finch] is ferociously anxious and preoccupied with trying to work out what the hell is going on – while Rosencrantz is smiling to try to hide the feeling that something absolutely terrible is happening,” says Clarke.

As the play unfolds, the supporting-characters-turnedprotagonists spend a great deal of time trying to figure out where they are, who they are, and what they are meant to do. “The two get overwhelmed by the choice to do anything, so they end up doing nothing but panicking – until characters come crashing in intermittently and wrap them up in the plot of Hamlet,” says Clark.

Delivered in a bantering, bickering style, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is one of the savviest plays ever conceived – a truly irreverent modern classic every theatre lover must see.

Unlike the character he plays, Clarke has never had trouble figuring out who he is or what he wanted to do with his life. He says it was during a primary school show that he was first struck by the acting bug. “It was love at first sight,” he explains.

The comedic talent, who is sure to bring plenty of humour to the role of Rosencrantz, graduated from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in 2016. He’s appeared in the TV show Wellington Paranormal and the Pop-Up Globe seasons of The Comedy of Errors and Macbeth. “I love Shakespeare plays! I went through a break-up and read some Shakespeare like a dork, and it helped. That’s messed up because it’s over 400 years old! But I absolutely haven’t read all of them,” he says with a smile on his face, not giving away if he is being serious or not.

His previous theatre credits include New Zealand’s premiere of Hand to God (2017), The Devil’s Half-Acre (2016), and Shortland Street – The Musical (2018). The multi-awardwinning Clarke also scooped the title of Actor of the Year in the 2017 Wellington Theatre Awards.

“It was a very cool surprise, especially because it was for my two favourite shows – Wine Lips and Hand to God,” he says.

Clarke is also currently working on a show called Captain Cook Thinks Again, a walking tour he created with director Jo Randerson and Barbarian Productions. “We wanted to reveal the racism and colonial thinking present in our behaviours today

– to own it and actively work on dismantling it through the vehicle of the ultimate pākehā, James Cook. That sounds full-on, but it’s a clown show that tries to work that kaupapa [policy] quite gently and openly,” Clarke says.

• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is on at the ASB Waterfront Theatre, 11-26 September. atc.co.nz

“What makes this play a comedy of tragic events is that the duo are unaware of their fate.”