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Picture of the day

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is a short play by W. S. Gilbert that parodies William Shakespeare's Hamlet. The main characters in Gilbert's play are King Claudius and Queen Gertrude of Denmark, their son Prince Hamlet, the courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Ophelia. The play first appeared in the magazine Fun in 1874 after having been rejected for production by several theatre companies. Its first professional performances were an 1891 benefit matinée and an 1892 run at the Court Theatre in London of around 77 performances, with Decima Moore as Ophelia, Brandon Thomas as Claudius, and Weedon Grossmith as Hamlet. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern was revived in London and New York over the next 20 years and occasionally thereafter. A review in The Times said: "There is more brilliance of merely verbal wit in this little play than in anything else of Mr. Gilbert's. ... It is really a very subtle piece of criticism, sometimes of Shakespeare’s play, sometimes of the commentators, sometimes of the actors who have played the great part." This ink drawing was created by Ralph Cleaver for a 1904 celebrity charity performance of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern at the Garrick Theatre in London. The drawing depicts various characters in the play and identifies the actors who portrayed them, including Gilbert himself as Claudius.Drawing credit: Ralph Cleaver; restored by Adam Cuerden