by Tom Stoppard
ISBN: 0-571-08182-7
First published in May 1967
119 pages
Publisher: Faber and Faber Limited
Cover illustration by Pentagram
4/5 Stars
A cleverly worked story, taking two minor characters from the play Hamlet, and allowing us to see what they get up to outside of the action in hamlet. Which, as it turns out, is not very much.
They plays games, toss coins, play ‘answer a question with a question’ and other such ‘japes’. They wait, they meet the theater troupe, who will perform for Hamlet later, and then they wait again, and meet the players again.
And they wait, again. This is a product of the sixties. Definitely timeless, definitely rooted in the sixties counter-culture. Comparisons with Beckett are apt. It is the weaving the drama within such a well-known play that gives this play the edge, and the renown it deserves.
A clever idea, cleverly executed.
The Eclectic Book Review 