Great Dane and lesser parties

Theatre Pro Rata is pulling off a nifty trick: staging repertory productions of Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guidenstern are Dead. Hamlet is, or course, Shakespeare's relatively well known brood-fest, while Rosencrantz is a farce by Tom Stoppard that tells the same story from the point of view of two minor characters from the original. Pro Rata is performing the shows on alternating nights, then doubling the fun on Sundays by performing one show as a matinee and the other in the evening. The cast includes

Joseph Papke and Guthrie stalwart Stephen Pelinski (albeit as the voice of the ghost, not in person). Hamlet opens this Friday at the Loading Dock Theater in St. Paul, with Rorencrantz following a week later.