Monday, April 2, 2012

Pippin & Ros and Guil Are Dead

While I was watching Pippin (which was fantastic, Mallory and Meredith! great job!) I was struck by the similarities with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Like Ros and Guil, Pippin has a fruitless struggle to find the meaning in life. The players in both plays also constantly allude to death and the grand finale being their specialty. Furthermore when the protagonists finally decide for themselves and take action, Guildenstern stabs the Player King and Pippin chooses to be with Madeline's character and her son, it is to no avail. Guildenstern unknowingly uses a prop knife, Madeline walks away with the other players, and Madeline's son becomes the players' next victim. Finally, all of Pippin's actions take place in the players' play as is implied of Ros and Guil Are Dead in the film version, from what I've heard. I was talking to Mrs. Klebba during the intermission however and she doesn't seem to agree. Mrs. Klebba says she absolutely adores Ros and Guil, but views Pippin more as entertainment than of literary merit. It's up to you to decide what you think!

5 comments:

alyb said...

I didnt even think of this connection but i definitly see it now. I think the way Pippin was narrated made it seem sort of like a play within a play, just like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. I think the narrative of both plays is very similiar.

ParkerC said...

Pippin was shown in 1972 and Rosencrantz and Guilderstern came out in 1966. I think the ideas that both of these plays display where prevelant in this time period and had a lot of influence on the thinking of society

sara pendleton said...

Pippin reminded a lot of Ros and Guil are dead too! I feel like both plays had the play within a play thing down, that the endings are both kind of anticlimactic on purpose, and both plays have players as characters. Both plays are definitely very modern, and by modern I don't mean like as a literary style or something like that but I just think that these two literally couldn't have been written 100 years ago, they're both very modern in that sense.

mere said...

Thanks Shaina! Yes perhaps Pippin has more entertainment value and despite its creepiness, it's definitely lighter on whole than Ros & Guil. However, Pippin does deal with central themes of ennui and the meaning/absurdity of life/death.

Mallory said...

Thanks shaina! While I was in rehearsal it was easy to see the relations. It's hard to fully understand the play with in a play until you read through or see it a few times but it not makes complete sense and does relate closely to rosencrantz and guildenstern