Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Imagine a 95-minute mashup between the trippy, alternate realities of "Black Mirror," and the vaudevillian patter/existential angst of "Waiting for Godot," splashed with the haunting poetry of Shakespeare's "Hamlet." That will give you a sense of the myriad forces at play in Court Theatre's riveting production of Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.""
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Tom Stoppard's debut 1966 play could be called Waiting for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: it matches Samuel Beckett's meditation on the meaninglessness of existence with Shakespeare's portrait of a man whose search for meaning leaves him paralyzed. That's a wonderful conceit, but it is a conceit, requiring the lightest of directorial touches so the serious doesn't overpower the funny or vice versa."
Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended
"...Court Theatre's 2023/2024 season continues with Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The production marks the last that Charles Newell will direct before he transitions from his role as the Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director into one as the company's Senior Artistic Consultant, and it serves as fittingly witty, moving finale."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Somewhat Recommended
"...The play has some intriguing insights about life and how blind trust and obedience can lead to tragedy while reminding us that "freedom is of a very limited nature." The ending has Rosencrantz glad that his tragic deliberation on his life is over and rejoices over his ending. At the same time, Guildenstern continues to deliberate whether there was ever an opportunity to prevent the regrettable reason that caused their death. An announcement is given that Claudius's orders and execution have been fulfilled. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" is a humorous yet dead serious take on two minor characters from Shakespeare's "Hamlet." While the two were often mistaken for each other throughout Shakespeare's original play, Stoppard's takeoff posits that Rosencrantz (Nate Burger) and Guildenstern (Erik Hellman) constantly mistake themselves for each other. Their jovial banter and constant intrusion on the physical and psychological boundaries between them resemble that of Estragon and Vladimir in Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot.""
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...This production probably won't appeal to everyone, but certainly to theatergoers who enjoy plays that really challenge the intellect while offering entertainment. It's a long one-act filled with confusion and absurdity, experienced both by the characters and the audience. Charles Newell's production is stunning, both visually and audibly, and features an accomplished and talented cast of actors, particularly Nate Burger and Erik Hellman. This play is, indeed, a tour de force for two of Chicago's finest actors."
Buzznews.net - Recommended
"...Directed skillfully by Charles Newell, the production is fast-paced, and offers a deconstructed adaptation of Stoppard's piece. If you are anything like this writer and familiar with Stoppard's play, you may find the approach almost shocking at first. The adaptation is certainly different, and much is cut away to allow this more nuanced view of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's journey. However, upon finding your bearings, you may also discover that the approach immediately thrusts the audience into the chaos of what the duo is feeling as they navigate their story. As the piece quickly jumps through space and time, you may find that the approach almost creates an immersive experience for all witnessing."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...Lights go up on a red curtain, hanging ominously over the titular characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead as they enact the famous coin-flipping scene that begins the play's exploration of the meaning of life in a seemingly meaningless and chaotic world. Over the course of the play, the red curtain reappears-as the lordly robe for the leader of a troupe of actors, then dragged across the stage by Hamlet, the man who carries his friends in his wake."
MaraTapp.org - Highly Recommended
"...Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a powerful farewell from Director Charles Newell, who has led Court for 30 years and will become its Senior Artistic Consultant this summer. In those decades, Newell often reinterpreted the classics, for which this theater and the University of Chicago to which it is connected are known, in often-arresting new ways. As artistic director, he welcomed Black plays, actors and audiences."
Chicago Culture Authority - Highly Recommended
"...You ever have one of those days when you wake up with the vague sense you might be dead? And it’s hard to remember how you got wherever it is you are, and you even mix up your name with the person plopped into the situation with you? The title characters in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead can relate."
BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended
"...Newell and his cast have created an atmosphere of anarchic revelry that manages to make a fifty-year-old postmodern play feel fresh and timely, especially in an era when many of us feel that the trajectory of our lives and society may be well outside our control. Court Theatre's ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD encourages us to embrace this uncertainty, to acknowledge the anxiety that we all share so that we can more easily laugh through whatever tears may come. Perhaps we all must face the Great Curtain Call at some time or another, but it helps to take the bow with friends and a smile on our faces."
NewCity Chicago - Recommended
"...The new Court Theatre production of Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” runs at just ninety-five minutes, without intermission. Directed by outgoing artistic director Charles Newell, it’s intense, fast-paced, well-acted and visually arresting."
