Theatre at AACC will perform the existentialist tragicomedy “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” in April.

The production of Tom Stoppard’s 1966 play, which will run April 14 to 16 and April 22 to 23 at the Kauffman Theater, is an absurdist take on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”

“It’s one of the most brilliant plays ever written,” Madeline Austin, a theater professor and the director of the play, said. “[Tom Stoppard] does strike chords in, you know, our existence in a very brilliant, funny, tragic way.”

The absurdist play is centered on the actions of the two titular characters, who are minor courtiers in Shakespeare’s original play, as they struggle to understand their own existence within the story as the events of “Hamlet” play out.

Gabriel Duque, who portrays the Player, said the show was “wacky.”

“I love it,” Duque, a high school senior who does not take classes at AACC, said. “It’s so funny. … I find [it] very exciting and intriguing.”

Cameron Walker, a second-year transfer studies student who plays Guildenstern, said he likes the different “perspective” that the play brought.

“Guildenstern … is a confused, sad little fellow,” Walker said. “He is trying to find a purpose in life in the world of Hamlet, where it was basically written [with] not much purpose at all. He gets lost and frustrated and he’s trying to make sense of it all but he just can’t.”

AACC transfer studies graduate Eliza Geib, who plays Rosencrantz, said the play was a “cool twist” on “Hamlet.”

“I love this show so much,” Geib said. “I love the way it plays on the language and I love Shakespeare.”

Maggie Urban, the stage manager, said she liked working with the actors, a mix of students and community members.

“They’ve all really embraced, kind of, the professional aspect that we’re going for with Theatre at AACC,” Urban, who graduated from AACC, said. “They all just bring their A-game.”