The Vortex Theatre presents 'Hamlet' and 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead' in repertory

Does your life lack “main character energy?” Do you sometimes feel like an extra in an absurdist play? Then, maybe you can relate to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a prince driven to prolonged inaction by traumatic and confusing events. Or, if being a prince feels a little unrelatable, you might be more of a Rosencrantz or a Guildenstern.

Mere walk-on characters in “Hamlet,” Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the hapless heroes of Tom Stoppard’s 1966 tragicomedy, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” which turns Shakespeare’s play inside-out.

Albuquerque audiences will be treated to performances of both iconic plays at The Vortex Theatre from Friday, March 21, through April 27. Leslee Richards directs “Hamlet,” and Paul Ford directs “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,” with the same actors playing the identically titled roles, repertory style — apart from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern themselves, who are played by a different pair in each production.

Both plays have been edited for length and for audience enjoyment.

“‘Hamlet’ is Shakespeare’s longest play, and it can be 4½ hours if you use every word,” Richards said.

In addition to shortening it, Richards brought in Tait Alexander to choreograph exciting fight and duel scenes, along with Gigi Chazin-Bennahum, professor emeritus of dance at the University of New Mexico, to create incidents of stylized physical movement.

“Leslee wanted movement in the ghost scene, so she introduced characters called ghostlets, who shadow the ghost (of Hamlet’s father),” Chazin-Bennahum said. “And she wanted movement in Ophelia’s soliloquy, when she’s really tilted toward mental illness and desperation.”

Richards said she and Ford hope audiences will pick up on overlapping themes in the two plays.

“Paul and I are old and good friends. He has his own vision, and I have my own vision, but we are trying to coordinate the plays so that people will enjoy both of them, and there will be references between them,” Richards said.

Still, the directors took very different approaches.

“‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,’ for instance, will be in Renaissance costumes, but ‘Hamlet’ will be contemporary,” Richards said.

Richards’ production even incorporates some contemporary political allusions.

“Claudius, the king who is the murderer, will be in a dark suit with a red tie and a flag lapel pin,” she said. “So, you can imagine what reference that is.”

Richards has directed other Shakespeare plays in the past, but never “Hamlet.”

“I was terrified,” she said. “But I’m really pleased with the way the play’s evolving, and I think it’s going to be a gorgeous production. It’s going to be different from the ‘Hamlet’ that people have seen in the past.”

Ford’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern” teases out the play’s absurdist themes and offers comic relief after the tragedy of “Hamlet.”

“Stoppard’s genius lies in taking two seemingly minor characters and revealing their profound humanity,” Ford said. “Paired with ‘Hamlet,’ it makes for an unforgettable theatrical experience.”

The Vortex Theatre presents 'Hamlet' and 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead' in repertory