Feature article targeted at a literary audience discussing Transformation between "Hamlet" and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead"

Divine Right of Shakespeare? Does the past influence what we do today? The past has influenced what we humans have become today. But do the values of the past still intrude on our lives today? This question will inevitably lead to others, such as 'Is there a God?' and 'Why are we here?' Such rhetorical questions may never be answered, however whether the past effectively informs the present is one that could. We …

…to manipulate it and re-orient it so to make space for the new work within and around it. Stoppard constructs a façade of Shakespearian scenes, and builds his own play in the cracks and fissures of that façade. Thus the Shakespeare myth for Stoppard is both a springboard for, and a limit to, his play. By recontextualising Hamlet, Stoppard uses the past to effectively inform the present.