ABSTRACT
Tom Stoppard’s ingenious work takes two minor characters from Hamlet and gives them a life outside the scenes in William Shakespeare’s play: they talk, toss coins, bicker, play games. Whereas in Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern appear at the point as minor characters called to perform a specific function, in Stoppard’s play the audience is focused more on their confusion and uncertainty. A more straightforward use of minor characters than in Stoppard’s approach occurs in the York Crucifixion Play. The use of teacher in role can be rendered more effective by occupying a minor rather than central role. After a number of activities involving the main characters, the actual event of the race itself is seen from the perspective of different ‘minor’ groups: Budd’s family and friends in South Africa, sections of the crowd in the stadium including patriotic Americans, and neutrals watching on television.
