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    Absurdist Comedy
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    The Law of Probability

    from Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

    Written by Tom Stoppard

    Guildenstern attempts to use complex logic and the laws of probability to rationalize the increasingly surreal and supernatural circumstances they find themselves in. He grapples with a growing sense of existential dread as he recounts the impossible streak of ninety-two consecutive coin tosses landing on heads.

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    GUIL: The scientific approach to the examination of phenomena is a defence against the pure emotion of fear. Keep tight hold and continue while there's time. Now counter to the previous syllogism: tricky one, follow me carefully, it may prove a comfort. If we postulate, and we just have, that within un-, sub- or supernatural forces the probability is that the law of probability will not operate as a factor, then we must accept that the probability of the first part will not operate as a factor, in which case the law of probability will operate as a factor within un-, sub- or supernatural forces. And since it obviously hasn't been doing so, we can take it that we are not held within un-, sub- or supernatural forces after all; in all probability, that is. Which is a great relief to me personally.

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    CharactersGuildenstern
    Duration2:00
    Age RangeAdult
    GenderMale
    GenreAbsurdist Comedy
    PeriodContemporary
    Formatmonologue
    SourceRosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
    TonePhilosophical, anxious, slightly manic
    AccentReceived Pronunciation
    Suitable Fordrama school audition, agent showcase, general practice, competition
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