But if the play still works, it is because Stoppard strikes an astonishing balance between cross-talk comedy and poignant awareness of mortality.
There are, of course, obvious echoes of Beckett in that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are uncertain of their past, puzzled by the present and blind as to the future. At any moment you feel the idea of building a whole play around two peripheral figures caught up in events at Elsinore could easily fall apart.
What impresses is the high-wire act that Stoppard undertakes. But it is the wit of the young Stoppard that keeps the play fresh and alive. It helps that this revival stars Daniel Radcliffe, who is perfectly matched by Joshua McGuire, and that David Leveaux’s production is nimble and inventive.
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