In a world where pirates can happen to anyone, this fabulously inventive existentialist tragicomedy is a veritable feast of wordplay and wit.

Winner of four Tony Awards, including “Best Play,” ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD thrusts two of Shakespeare’s most incidental characters into the limelight. Courtiers and close compatriots Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find themselves in Elsinore with the dubious task of identifying what afflicts their childhood friend Hamlet. Can this bewildered duo manage to keep their heads as they engage with a ragtag group of bedraggled players, find themselves on the high seas, and are attacked by a band of pirates? 

The New York Times hailed Stoppard's early play as "Very funny, very brilliant, very chilling."

Presented by Folger Theatre

Discount Tickets Available $30 rush tix available 1-hour prior to show; discounts offered to students, seniors, educators, military, & groups

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Box Office Phone: 202-544-7077

Guildenstern (Adam Wesley Brown, left) and Rosencrantz (Romell Witherspoon) contemplate their fates in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Teresa Wood

The Player (Ian Merrill Peakes, center) tries to share his wisdom with Guidenstern (Adam Wesley Brown) and Rosencrantz (Romell Witherspoon, right).

Teresa Wood

Guildenstern (Adam Wesley Brown, left) and Rosencrantz (Romell Witherspoon) with their childhood friend, Hamlet (Biko Eisen-Martin).

Teresa Wood

The Player (Ian Merrill Peakes, front left) makes an interesting wager with Guildenstern (Adam Wesley Brown). Also pictured, l to r: Rachel Zampelli, Maggie Donnelly, Jacob Yeh, Stephen Russell Murray.

Teresa Wood

Romell Witherspoon as Rosencrantz (left) and Adam Wesley Brown as Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Teresa Wood

The Promo

What's A Hamlet?