Am I dead? Is there a God? Does it matter?
These and other questions fill Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard’s 1990 film adaptation of his 1966 play of the same name. The movie will screen this Saturday at San Antonio’s McNay Art Museum.
Actors Gary Oldman and Tim Roth — who bounce perfectly off each other in this absurdist take on Hamlet — create an endearing buddy comedy packed with meta commentary and a deep and unavoidable sense of existential dread. We’re never sure which character is which, enhancing the theory that Shakespeare wrote himself into a corner and used minor characters as sacrificial lambs to distract from a flawed narrative.
The film, the play and later the play-within-the-film all follow the titular duo, vaulting them to center stage — largely without their knowledge — as the action of Hamlet unfolds around them. They bumble around Elsinore Castle, flipping coins, briefly meeting other characters, trying to figure out what’s the hell is going on and ultimately questioning the point of it all.
The 1990 production, which runs around two hours, wraps this perfectly postmodern plot in classical tropes, including ancient interiors shot in castles in Croatia and Slovenia. Sumptuous costumes by Andreane Neofitou dovetail perfectly with “Designing Shakespeare Through the Ages,” the McNay’s special exhibition, ongoing through July 6, which shows the ways artists have continued to reinvent and revitalize the Bard’s theatrical works.
Free to McNay members and Museums for All adults, $10 for nonmember adults, 2 p.m. Saturday, May 24, Chiego Lecture Hall, McNay Art Museum, 6000 N New Braunfels Ave., (210) 824-5368, mcnayart.org.
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This article appears in May 14-27, 2025.