Rating: 
Summary: I'm not as charmed as others.
Review: Disclaimer: I read this for English class.I did not think this book was good. The movie is somewhat better. However, the essential problem is that, given the lack of plot or drama, everything good about the play is comedy or profundity. Rather than making a truly funny play, which Stoppard could have done (the first players' scene is quite funny), he instead chose to alternate between mildly funny episodes and existentialist ponderings. The ponderings are not profound but rather stupid. Stoppard does not want to have his characters preach at the audience, so he has them make logical errors. However, this results in a lack of profundity, as the "essential problems" that they run into are easily identified as stupidity. Yeah, I just didn't like this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Theatrical Gem
Review: I will keep this review short and sweet. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is a fleshing out of Hamlet by what many consider to be the modern Shakespeare Tom Stoppard. For those unfamiliar with Stoppard's works they run dry and slightly melodramatic the way classic theatre tends too. But Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is one of his exceptions. The piece overflows with humor and charismatic dialogue. While the begging of the show will leave you in stitches, you'll find that as you continue on through the play you begin to care very much for the leads. For those unfamiliar with Hamlet I wont ruin the ending... but the ending is about as moving as can be. I was lucky enough to see this production about a year ago, and while the text is beautiful is strongly suggest seeing the play if you can or even buying the movie. I think you'll love it as much as I do.
Rating:
Summary: terrific
Review: a little more diversity of scenery than arcadia, but every bit as witty, introspective, funny, and engrossing as we've come to expect from the master playwright! read it!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Amazing Work of Literature
Review: Before reading "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" I highly reccomend that you pick up a copy of "Hamlet" and familiarize yourself with the storyline and characters. With that prerequisite, dive right into R&GAD and don't make any plans for the next hour or two. Every page of this book is smacking with halirity and satire; from the situations to the dialogue, Tom Stoppard keeps the reader blissfully entertained. The Hamlet story, as told from the perspectives of previously minor roles, turns into a brilliant tragicomic splendor that you won't want to put down. Not many books make me laugh out loud more than once, but R&GAD had me in stiches almost constantly. Add this book to your "must read" list right now!
Rating:
Summary: Samual Beckett Made Humorous
Review: Tom Stoppard presents a fantastic surrealist/absurdist take on the timeless (NOT tireless) classic Hamlet, throwing a new twist on an old plot. Here is the story of that rotten state of Denmark as told through the eyes of two of the most minor characters in the play: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Written in the same style as "Waiting for Godot," Stoppard weaves a web of questions, symbolism, humor, and oddities to be relished by any reader, especially a fan of Beckett. A must-have for anyone who considers him/herself a fan of the theatre.
Rating:
Summary: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Very Much Alive, Actually
Review: From the uncomparable genius of Tom Stoppard comes a quotable masterpiece about two friends lost in someone else's story. While the rest of Shakespeare's characters remain true to their original script, Ros and Guil step out of the box to explore a variety of topics ranging from the metaphysical to the downright comical. As the title suggests, the story is, ultimately, a tradegy -- but as the reader gets to know the two stars, it becomes a tragedy on multiple levels. One feels that their deaths are preordained, and even the moments of sidesplitting hilarity are laced with the bittersweet knowledge that it WILL end. The story is made still more touching as the characters' early realization of their fate battles with their unquenchable hope. Stoppard has captured in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern a sense of innocence that endures despite the chaos around them in a world where it seems even the laws of physics have suddenly ceased to apply. A perfect mixture of comedy and tragedy with a philosophical overtone attainable only by Stoppard, this is a play you will want to read, re-read, and act out with your friends in daily conversations.
Rating:
Summary: Sometimes the Pawns can be Kings
Review: In this play Tom Stoppard has pulled two minor characters from Hamlet and given us a glimpse of what may lay behind the mundane exteriors of everyday life and more importantly the limits of possibility of meaning contained in the world of literature. What is important about this is that Stoppard is showing us that the lives of common people and minor characters can also make for some great literature too.
Philosophically, I would tend to say that this play is securely grounded in the genre that has been called the Theater of the Absurd, which in turn owes much to the thinking of Albert Camus. Having said this, I have to say that this play has some definite similarities with the works of Beckett, especially Godot, but also that of Harold Pinter's, "The Birthday Party", especially in terms of dialogue, plot direction, and character development. So if you like the work of these playwrights you would certainly enjoy this, which would also be of great interest to Shakespeare students/fans as well as anyone interested in the ideas of existentialist thought.
Despite these similarities R&G and at the same time because of them, this work seems at times to be conscious of breaking new ground and testing the limits of absurdity and interaction with the audience. The symbolism, for example, seems to be much more important to the action and meaning of this play than it is in other works of this genre. Whereas, Godot seems to stress the repetitiveness of dialogue, R&G is suggestive of just the opposite--the seemingly endless play of meaning implicit in each uttered word. This comes out through the characters lack of confidence in what they struggle to say, and the way that their views seem to change with each situation, which illustrates the uncertainty of meaning and life. Although many of the plays of this period seem to be focused on the nature of existence and its meaning to humanity, the discursive ways through which it is approached and interpreted make them all vastly unique, puzzling and vastly entertaining reads. The thing that is, perhaps, most original in R&G's creation, is the way that Stoppard utilizes the thought of Artaud and his idea of the Theater of Cruelty, to at times completely breakdown the barriers between the audience and the actors. It follows then, that if one wants to get the full effect of this play it has to be seen live. But, then again how many people get that chance, thus, this book is the second best thing. I would only suggest paying very close attention to the stage directions, set and scenery, as they are much more important in this play than they are in others. Finally, simply read R&G for the fun of it, you certainly will not be disappointed. In this play Stoppard has gone along way in breaking down the barriers between the writer and the average reader. With originality, humor, and an important theme, Stoppard has achieved his goal beautifully, giving us all a realistic glimpse into the complex drama of human life, literature and the mystery of existence.
Also check out the movie version with Gary Oldman, Tim Roth and Richard Dreyfus, which is faithful to the production and a joy to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely brilliant
Review: Anyone who is a fan of Shakespeare's Hamlet owes it to themselves to take a look at Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. These two characters are perhaps the quirkiest in the original text of Hamlet, as they barely serve any function at all other than to get killed. But Stoppard brilliantly renders them as the principal players of this existential romp, with definite allusions to Beckett's classic Waiting for Godot. Extremely entertaining and surprisingly insightful, this is a must for any fan of Hamlet or modern theater.
Rating: 
Summary: The mechanics of absurd melodrama
Review: We all know Hamlet from Hamlet's or Shakespeare's point of view. We identify with the hero and his lot is a pure tragedy. Tom Stoppard looks at the same story from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's point of view. Everything becomes fuzzy and more or less insignificant. No identification is possible. We enter an absurd melodrama, absurd because we cannot find our place in it, and we are left with the « mechanics of cheap melodrama ». So we have all the deaths necessary for Hamlet to be himself but from the point of view of two totally useless and aimless characters. We are even glad they are dead at the end of the play. Then fate or life or predestination is reduced to a disrupted game of hazard, a hazardous game since the players will die, but in which all rules are inefficient, even probability rules. « Something is rotten in the kingdom of Denmark » and they see it but cannot in anyway identify it. « All your life, your live so close to truth, it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye ». And truth cannot be seen by them, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. We can, maybe, see it, but the play folows the wrong line for it to come out clearly. Hamlet is not a victim of anything, but just a ruthless and uncontrollable violent and crazy person who kills for reasons that are unknown to everyone. This play was crucial in the history of drama because it corresponded in American history to the very moment when the consciousness of Americans started to shift from the logical imperialistic violence of Korea, to the absurd and unjustifiable violence of Vietnam. After this moment, this play, Americans will never be the same and they will always be tempted to look at the world from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's point of view, that is to say from a pointless and meaningless perspective. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating:
Summary: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Review: I'm not even going to pretend to be a pseudo-intellectual here. I'm no grad student, just a dumb kid with a taste for literature. That said, this play is incredible. Stoppard's poetic voice is comperable to Shakespeare's in "Hamlet"; the association ends there. Unlike the unfortunate Prince of Denmark, "R&G" exist in a surrealistic world also found in works such as Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five", Gabriel Garcia-Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude", and J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", all must-reads as well. Lines such as "The colours red, blue, and green are real. The colour yellow is a mystical experience shared by everyone," carry such force they nearly upstage the play's deeper meanings. Every time I read this play (and that's been about fifteen times) a different thought or ideal of Stoppard's hits me and yet the underlying tone and meaning remain the same: We are all on a boat sailing for England without the necessary papers to present the king.
If you read this play for a class, read it again. If you missed the trees for the forrest the first time, read it again. If you enjoyed this play immensely and reccomended it to all your friends, read it again. It's just keeps coming up heads.
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