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Windows Media Player
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Windows Media Player
A component of Microsoft Windows
Windows Media Player 12 running on Windows 8
Details
Type
Media player
Included with
Windows 3.0 MM and Windows 3.1
Windows 9x
Windows 2000 to Windows 10 [a]
Windows CE and Windows Mobile
Mac OS 8 and 9
Also available for
Windows NT 4.0, Mac OS 7, Mac OS X, Solaris
Replaces
ActiveMovie Control, CD Player, DVD Player (Win32 version)
Related components
Windows Media Center, Microsoft Movies & TV
Windows Media Player (WMP) is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices. Editions of Windows Media Player were also released for classic Mac OS, Mac OS X and Solaris but development of these has since been discontinued.
In addition to being a media player, Windows Media Player includes the ability to rip music from and copy music to compact discs, burn recordable discs in Audio CD format or as data discs with playlists such as an MP3 CD, synchronize content with a digital audio player (MP3 player) or other mobile devices, and enable users to purchase or rent music from a number of online music stores.
Windows Media Player replaced an earlier application called Media Player, adding features beyond simple video or audio playback.
Windows Media Player 11 is available for Windows XP and included in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. The default file formats are Windows Media Video (WMV), Windows Media Audio (WMA), and Advanced Systems Format (ASF), and its own XML based playlist format called Windows Playlist (WPL). The player is also able to utilize a digital rights management service in the form of Windows Media DRM.
Windows Media Player 12 is the most recent version of Windows Media Player. It was released on July 22, 2009 along with Windows 7 and has not been made available for previous versions of Windows nor has it been updated since for Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.[1][2] Unlike Windows 8, Windows RT does not run Windows Media Player. Beginning with the Fall Creators Update of Windows 10, WMP is disabled by default and must be reinstalled through the Programs and Features control panel.[3][4]
ActiveMovie was the immediate ancestor of Windows Media Player v6.x
Contents
[hide]
1 History
2 Features
2.1 Core playback and library functions
2.2 Visualizations
2.3 Format support
2.3.1 Windows Media Player Mobile
2.4 Disc burning, ripping, and playback
2.5 Portable device sync
2.6 Enhanced playback features
2.7 Shell integration
2.8 Extensibility
2.9 Online features
2.10 Media streaming
2.11 Skin Mode
3 Security issues
4 Other versions
4.1 Windows Mobile
4.2 Mac OS X
5 Website
6 European Commission case
7 Release history
8 See also
9 Footnotes
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
History[edit]
Media Player 5
The first version of Windows Media Player appeared in 1991, when Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions was released.[5] Originally called Media Player, this component was included with "Multimedia PC"-compatible machines but not available for retail sale. It was capable of playing .mmm animation files, and could be extended to support other formats.[6] It used MCI to handle media files. Being a component of Windows, Media Player shows the same version number as that of the version Windows with which it was included.
Microsoft continually produced new programs to play media files. In November of the following year, Video for Windows was introduced with the ability to play digital video files in an AVI container format,[7] with codec support for RLE and Video1, and support for playing uncompressed files. Indeo 3.2 was added in a later release. Video for Windows was first available as a free add-on to Windows 3.1, and later integrated into Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. In 1995, Microsoft released ActiveMovie with DirectX Media SDK. ActiveMovie incorporates a new way of dealing with media files, and adds support for streaming media (which the original Media Player could not handle). In 1996, ActiveMovie was renamed DirectShow.[8] However, Media Player continued to come with Windows until Windows XP, in which it was officially renamed Windows Media Player v5.1.[9] ("v5.1" is the version number of Windows XP.)
In 1999, Windows Media Player's versioning broke away from that of Windows itself. Windows Media Player 6.4 came as an out-of-band update for Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0 that co-existed with Media Player and became a built-in component of Windows 2000, Windows ME and Windows XP with an mplayer2.exe stub allowing to use this built-in instead of newer versions.[10] Windows Media Player 7.0 and its successors also came in the same fashion, replacing each other but leaving Media Player and Windows Media Player 6.4 intact. Windows XP is the only operating system to have three different versions of Windows Media Player (v5.1, v6.4 and v8) side by side. All versions branded Windows Media Player (instead of simply Media Player) support DirectShow codecs. Windows Media Player version 7 was a large revamp, with a new user interface, visualizations and increased functionality. Windows Vista, however, dropped older versions of Windows Media Player in favor of v11.
Beginning with Windows Vista, Windows Media Player supports the Media Foundation framework besides DirectShow; as such it plays certain types of media using Media Foundation as well as some types of media using DirectShow.[11] Windows Media Player 12 was released with Windows 7. It included support for more media formats and added new features. With Windows 8, however, the player did not receive an upgrade.
On April 16, 2012, Microsoft announced that Windows Media Player would not be included in Windows RT, the line of Windows designed to run on ARM based devices.[12]
Features[edit]
Core playback and library functions[edit]
Windows Media Player supports playback of audio, video and pictures, along with fast forward, reverse, file markers (if present) and variable playback speed (seek & time compression/dilation introduced in WMP 9 Series). It supports local playback, streaming playback with multicast streams and progressive downloads. Items in a playlist can be skipped over temporarily at playback time without removing them from the playlist. Full keyboard-based operation is possible in the player.
Windows Media Player supports full media management, via the integrated media library introduced first in version 7, which offers cataloguing and searching of media and viewing media metadata. Media can be arranged according to album, artist, genre, date et al. Windows Media Player 9 Series introduced Quick Access Panel to browse and navigate the entire library through a menu. The Quick Access Panel was also added to the mini mode in version 10 but was entirely removed in version 11. WMP 9 Series also introduced ratings and Auto Ratings. Windows Media Player 10 introduced support for aggregating pictures, Recorded TV shows, and other media into the library. A fully featured tag editor was featured in versions 9-11 of WMP, called the Advanced Tag Editor. However, the feature was removed in Windows Media Player 12. Since WMP 9 Series, the player features dynamically updated Auto Playlists based on criteria. Auto Playlists are updated every time users open them. WMP 9 Series and later also supports Auto Ratings which automatically assigns ratings based on the number of times a song is played. Pre-populated auto playlists are included in Windows Media Player 9 Series. Custom Auto Playlists can be created only on Windows XP and later.
In Windows Media Player 11, the Quick Access Panel was removed and replaced with an Explorer-style navigation pane on the left which can be customized for each library to show the user selected media or metadata categories, with contents appearing on the right, in a graphical manner with thumbnails featuring album art or other art depicting the item. Missing album art can be added directly to the placeholders in the Library itself (though the program re-renders all album art imported this way into 1x1 pixel ratio, 200x200 resolution jpegs). There are separate Tiles, Icons, Details or Extended Tiles views for Music, Pictures, Video and Recorded TV which can be set individually from the navigation bar. Entries for Pictures and Video show their thumbnails. Version 11 also introduced the ability to search and display results on-the-fly as characters are being entered, without waiting for Enter key to be hit. Incremental search results are refined based on further characters that are typed. Stacking allows graphical representations of how many albums there are in a specific category or folder. The pile appears larger as the category contains more albums. The List pane includes an option to prompt the user to remove items skipped in a playlist upon save or skip them only during playback.
Visualizations[edit]
Windows Media Player 11 running in mini mode (in Windows XP MCE) showing the "Bars and Waves" visualization
While playing music, Windows Media Player can show visualizations. The current three visualizations are Alchemy, which was first introduced in version 9, Bars and Waves, which has been used since version 7, and Battery, introduced version 8. "Musical Colors" was removed starting with version 9, but is retained if Windows Media Player was upgraded from version 7 or 8. Version 11 and above refrains from having the former "Ambience", "Particle", "Plenoptic", and "Spikes" visualizations. The "Battery" visualization was similarly removed in later editions of version 12. The reason for their removal was that the visualizations do not support full screen controls (either the visualization gets shifted to the left while there is a thick black bar to the right side of the screen, that there are no full screen controls, or that the visualization have DXE Problems). More visualizations such as "BlazingColors", "ColorCubes", "Softie the Snowman," and "Yule Log" can be downloaded from Microsoft's website.
Format support[edit]
The player includes intrinsic support for Windows Media codecs and also WAV and MP3 media formats. On Windows XP and above with WMP 9 Series and later, the Windows Media Audio Professional codec is included which supports multichannel audio at up to 24-bit 192 kHz resolution. Windows Media Player 11 includes the Windows Media Format 11 runtime which adds low bitrate support (below 128 kbit/s for WMA Pro), support for ripping music to WMA Pro 10 and updates the original WMA to version 9.2.
Support for any media codec and container format can be added using specific DirectShow filters or Media Foundation codecs (Media Foundation codecs only in Windows Vista and later). The player will not play MP3 files that contain compressed ID3 headers ("tags"); trying to do so results in a "The input media file is invalid" error message. MP3 playback support was built-in beginning with version 6.1 and audio CD playback was natively supported with version 7.
DVD playback features minus the necessary decoders were integrated into Windows Media Player 8 for Windows XP. The player activates DVD and Blu-ray playback functionality with support for menus, titles and chapters, parental controls and audio track language selection if compatible decoders are installed. MPEG-2 and Dolby Digital (AC-3) decoders were included beginning with Windows Media Player 11 on Windows Vista (Home Premium and Ultimate editions only).
Windows Media Player 12 adds native support for H.264 and MPEG-4 Part 2 video formats, ALAC, AAC audio[13] and 3GP[clarification needed got no codec available for 3GP], MP4 and MOV container formats.[14] Windows Media Player 12 is also able to play AVCHD formats (.M2TS and .mts).[15]
As of Windows 10, Windows Media Player 12 can play FLAC , HEVC, ASS and SubRip subtitle, and Matroska container formats.
Windows Media Player Mobile[edit]
Windows Media Player Mobile 10 on Windows Mobile 6.5 supports MP3, ASF, WMA and WMV using WMV or MPEG-4 codecs.[16]
Disc burning, ripping, and playback[edit]
Windows Media Player features integrated Audio CD-burning support since version 7 as well as data CD burning support since Windows Media Player 9 Series on Windows XP and later. Data CDs can have any of the media formats supported by the player. While burning Data CDs, the media can, optionally, be transcoded into WMA format and playlists can be added to the CD as well. Starting with WMP 9 Series, audio CDs can be burnt with volume leveling.
Audio CDs can be ripped as WMA or WMA 10 Pro (WMA 10 Pro in WMP 11 and later) at 48, 64, 96, 128, 160 and 192 kbit/s, WMA lossless (470 to 940 kbit/s) (9 Series on XP and later), WMA variable bitrate (from 40-75 kbit/s up to 240-355 kbit/s), MP3 at 128, 192, 256 and 320 kbit/s, or uncompressed WAV (WAV ripping in WMP 11 and later). Since WMP 9 Series, 20 bit high-resolution CDs (HDCDs) are also supported, if capable audio hardware is present. Audio can be ripped using error correction and ripped audio can be protected with Windows Media DRM. Ripping to MP3 is supported only in Windows Media Player 8 for Windows XP and later if a compatible MP3 encoder is installed. Windows Media Player 10 included the Fraunhofer MP3 Professional encoder. Information on CDs such as album name, artist and track listings can optionally be automatically downloaded from the online Windows Media database when the CD is inserted. Version 11 added support for ripping audio CDs to WAV and WMA 10 Pro formats. For burning, version 11 shows a graphical bar indicating how much space will be used on the disc and introduced Disc spanning which splits a burn list onto multiple discs in case the content does not fit on one disc.
Portable device sync[edit]
Windows Media Player allows the user to connect, share and sync data with portable handheld devices and game consoles since version 7. Media can be optionally transcoded to a format better suited for the target device, automatically, when synchronizing. When deleting playlists from devices, Windows Media Player can automatically remove their contents. Devices can be formatted using Windows Media Player 9 Series and later. Version 10 and later support the Media Transfer Protocol and Auto Sync. Auto Sync allows users to specify criteria such as recently added music or highest rated songs, by which media will be automatically synchronized with the portable device and other advanced features like setting the clock on the portable device automatically, communicating with the device to retrieve the user's preferences. Windows Media Player 10 also introduced the UMDF-based Windows Portable Devices API.
Version 11 has improved synchronization features for loading content onto PlaysForSure-compatible portable players. WMP 11 supports reverse-synchronization, by which media present on the portable device can be replicated back to the PC. Shuffle Sync can be used to randomize content synced with the portable device, Multi PC Sync to synchronize portable device content across multiple PCs and Guest Sync to synchronize different content from multiple PCs with the portable device. Portable devices appear in the navigation pane of the library where their content can be browsed and searched.
Windows Media Player's 'Sync' function has options that allow it to be set to automatically down-convert (transcode) high bit-rate song files to a lower bit-rate. This down-conversion function is switched on by default. This is useful for providing low bit-rate files to those portable devices that need them, and to save space on portable devices with smaller storage capacities. For high bit-rate capable devices with sufficient storage capabilities, the down conversion process can be omitted.
In versions 11 (2006) and 12 (2009), the Quality settings that the user has selected in the Windows Media Player settings for Sync, for that specific portable device, are used to control the quality (bit-rate) of files that are copied to the portable device. Leaving the Quality settings to Automatic will often result in 192kbs files being copied to the portable device. Manual settings can also be made. 192kbs is the highest quality down-conversion bit-rate that can be manually selected when the Sync function's down-conversion function is turned on. Lower bit-rates can also be selected.
For portable devices that can handle high bit-rate files, the best quality files are obtained by leaving the down-conversion process switched off (unchecked) for that specific device. In Windows Media Player Version 11, switching off the down-conversion function is done in the Quality tab of the Advanced Options of the Sync settings for the device. In Windows Media Player Version 12, switching off the down-conversion function is done in the Quality tab of the Properties for the device in the Select Settings for the device in the Sync Options menu.
When set up in such a way, Windows Media Player's 'Sync' function can be used to sync unchanged high bit-rate song files to suitable portable devices (i.e. those capable of using file formats such as WMA Lossless, mp3-360kbs, etc.). For example, some users have created large song libraries on their PCs containing .wma formatted song files using the high bit-rate WMA Lossless (WMA-LL) protocol, or using other high bit-rate song file formats. The WMA-LL protocol is selectable in Windows Media Player as an option when ripping songs from CDs. The resulting bit-rates seen on ripped WMA-LL files are often 3 to 6 times higher than 192kbs, and can typically fall anywhere in the range of 600kbs to 1200kbs, depending on the quality of the source file that was present on the CD in the first place. The sound quality is much improved over the default rate, although the file size is larger.
At the time that Versions 11 and 12 were released, the capabilities and capacities of portable devices typically required down-conversion of the bit-rates of the files placed on the portable devices. Thus, Sync down-conversion was turned on by default. This was to ensure playability of the files and to ensure that the file sizes were small enough to efficiently fit a reasonably large selection of songs on the portable device.
In recent years (circa 2012), portable devices became available that could natively play these Windows Media Player produced high bit-rate WMA-LL files (and others), and that have storage capacities suitable for large collections of high bit-rate song files. This made it much more practicable and desirable to use software programs such as Windows Media Player to synchronize previously PC-bound libraries of high bit-rate songs to these new portable devices.
For example, the Samsung Galaxy Note II (2012) can natively play unchanged high bit-rate Windows Media Player WMA-LL files. It can also be equipped with a micro-SDXC (flash NAND) memory card chip to expand the storage capacity to a size that is suitable for large collections of high bit-rate songs (up to 80GB total storage). By 2012, the maximum total solid-state (flash NAND) storage of such portable devices available had reached 96GB. In the case of certain models of the Samsung Galaxy S III, this is achieved with up to 32GB of NAND flash storage integrated into the device and an additional 64GB mSDXC NAND flash storage "memory card" inserted into the micro-SD expansion card slot.
Enhanced playback features[edit]
Windows Media Player features universal brightness, contrast, saturation and hue adjustments and pixel aspect ratio for supported video formats. It also includes a 10-band graphic equalizer with presets and SRS WOW audio post-processing system. Windows Media Player can also have attached audio and video DSP plug-ins which process the output audio or video data. Video Smoothing was introduced in WMP 9 Series (Windows XP and later only) which upscales frame-rate by interpolating added frames, in effect giving a smoother playback on low-framerate videos. The player supports subtitles and closed-captioning for local media, video on demand streaming or live streaming scenarios. Typically Windows Media captions support the SAMI file format but can also carry embedded closed caption data.
The player can use video overlays or VMR (Video Mixing Renderer) surfaces, if the video card supports them. In Windows XP, it uses VMR7 by default, but can also be made to use the more advanced YUV mixing mode by enabling the "Use high quality mode" option in Advanced Performance settings. This turns on deinterlacing, scaling and improved color accuracy.[17] WMP 9 Series introduced native playback for deinterlacing for TV output. Version 9 introduced DXVA accelerated playback. Version 11 introduced improved support for DirectX accelerated decoding of WMV video (DXVA decoding). Up to version 11, it supported static lyrics and "Synchronized Lyrics", by which different lines of lyrics can be time-stamped, so that they display only at those times. Synchronized Lyrics also were accessible through the Advanced Tag Editor which was removed in version 12.
Since Windows Media Player 9 Series, the player supports crossfading, audio dynamic range (Quiet Mode) for WMA Pro and WMA Lossless, and auto volume leveling for certain media which includes volume level/gain information such as MP3 or Windows Media. The player also supports extensive configurable privacy and security settings.
Shell integration[edit]
The player has Windows Explorer shell integration to add files and playlist to the Now Playing pane and other playlists can be controlled from the Windows Explorer shell itself, via right-click menu. The My Music folder also includes a separate My Playlists folder where playlists are maintained. When the player is closed and reopened, simply clicking the play button restores the last playlist even if it was not saved. Starting with Windows Media Player 10, the playlist pane is also visible from the Library view. AutoPlay handlers in Windows expose various Windows Media Player tasks.
Windows Media Player 11 running in mini mode in Windows Vista and Windows XP respectively. Notice the difference in the logo.
Up to version 11, it featured a taskbar-mounted Mini mode in which the most common media control buttons are presented as a toolbar on the Windows taskbar. Flyout windows can display media information, the active visualization or the video being played back. Mini-mode was introduced as a shell player powertoy for Windows Media Player 8 in Windows XP and integrated later into WMP 9 Series. Mini-mode has been removed in Windows Media Player 12 in favor of controls in the taskbar's interactive thumbnail preview which lacks volume control, a progress bar and information displayed whenever a new song is played.
The user interface has been redesigned in Windows Media Player 12 such that the Now Playing view plays media in a separate minimalist window with floating playback controls, and also gives access to the current playlist, visualizations, and enhancements.[13] Enhancements are housed in individual undocked windows. The library view includes the rest of the media management functions. It also can preview songs from the library when users hover over the media file and click the Preview button.[13] Windows Media Player 12 can play unprotected songs from the iTunes library. The taskbar-integrated Mini-player has been replaced with controls in the taskbar's interactive thumbnail preview (called the Thumbnail Toolbar),[18] albeit minus the volume control function, track and album information shown whenever a new song is played and the progress bar. The taskbar icon also supports jump lists introduced in Windows 7.
The thumbnail viewer of Windows Media Player 12 in Windows 7 Home Premium
Extensibility[edit]
The player has skinning support since version 7 and includes a color chooser since version 8. Not all functions are usually exposed in skin mode. Windows Media Player 10 allows setting the video border color. Color chooser has been removed in Windows Media Player 12. It supports visualizations and Info Center View (Info Center View in WMP 9 Series and later) which displays media metadata fetched from the internet. Full screen visualizations are supported in WMP 9 Series and later. It supports Background plug-ins, window plug-ins and Now Playing plug-ins to control media playback besides DSP and renderer plug-ins. Plug-in support was introduced in Windows Media Player 9 Series.
Online features[edit]
The player integrates web-browsing support to browse online music stores, shop for music and tune to internet radio stations since version 7. It provides an embeddedable ActiveX control for Internet Explorer so that developers can play Windows Media on web pages. Windows Media Player 10 and later feature integration with a large number of online music stores and selecting a music store switches the Info Center view, radio and other online features to use services from that store. Purchased music from a particular store appears in a separate library node under the respective category.
Media streaming[edit]
Previously, Microsoft had released Windows Media Connect for Windows XP to stream media content with its built-in UPnP media server. With version 11 of Windows Media Player, Media Sharing was integrated and allows content (Music, Pictures, Video) to be streamed to and from Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) AV enabled devices such as the PS3, Xbox 360, and Roku SoundBridge. This includes DRM protected PlaysForSure content. WMP 11 on Windows Vista can also act as a client to connect to remote media libraries using this feature; this is not available on the Windows XP version.
With version 12, media streaming was further improved. While previous versions streamed media to UPnP compliant devices (Digital Media Server role) and could play media by fetching it from a network share (Digital Media Player role),[19] Windows Media Player 12 can access media from the shared media libraries on the network or HomeGroup, stream media to DLNA 1.5 compliant devices and allows itself (once the remote control option is turned on) to be remotely controlled by Digital Media Controller devices which stream media (Digital Media Renderer role).[19] Similarly, the Play To feature once enabled for remote PCs, by turning on remote control of the player, allows compliant devices and computers to be discovered and controlled remotely from a computer running Windows Media Player 12 (Digital Media Controller role).[19] If the devices do not support the streamed format, Windows Media Player 12 transcodes the format on-the-fly. Media from a home network can also be streamed over the internet using an Online ID Provider service, which handles discovery of the computer's IP address, authorization, security, connectivity and Quality of Service issues.[19]
Skin Mode[edit]
Windows Media Player also features skins. Currently, Windows Media Player has two default skins: "Corporate", which was first introduced in version 8, and "Revert", which first shipped with version 9. In versions 7 and 8, there were many unusual skins such as "Heart", "Headspace", "Canvas", "Goo", and "Atomic", which were removed starting with version 9, but are retained if the player is upgraded, although some can still be downloaded from an archive of the Microsoft website.[20] "QuickSilver", "Compact", and "9SeriesDefault" were removed starting with version 11, but are similarly retained if upgraded from version 9 or 10. This Corporate skin is not deletable.
Security issues[edit]
Microsoft Windows Media Runtime in Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server contained a coding error that permitted "remote code execution if a user opened a specially crafted media file". Such a file would allow the attacker to "then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights", if the account on which the file was played had administrator privileges.[21] The problem was addressed in a critical update issued on September 8, 2009.[22]
Other versions[edit]
Microsoft has also released versions of Windows Media Player for other platforms including Windows Mobile, classic Mac OS, Mac OS X, Palm-size PC, Handheld PC, and Solaris. Of these, only the Windows Mobile edition continues to be actively developed and supported by Microsoft. Version 1 of the Zune software was also based on Windows Media Player; later versions are not.
Windows Mobile[edit]
Windows Media Player 10.3 Mobile on a Windows Mobile Professional device
Windows Media Player for Pocket PC was first announced on January 6, 2000, and has been revised on a schedule roughly similar to that of the Windows version.[23] Currently known as "Media Player 10 Mobile", this edition (released in October 2004) closely resembles the capabilities of the Windows version of WMP 10, including playlist capabilities, a media library, album art, WMA Lossless playback, support for DRM-protected media, video playback at 640×480 with stereo sound, and the same Energy Blue interface aesthetics also seen in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. It also supports synchronization with the desktop version of WMP 10, and additionally supports synchronizing and transcoding of recorded television shows from Media Center. Media Player 10 Mobile is not available as a download from Microsoft; distribution is done solely through OEM partners, and is typically included on devices based on Windows Mobile.
Windows Mobile 6 includes a copy of Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, but with a similar (but not quite identical) theme as Windows Media Player 11.
Mac OS X[edit]
Version 9 was the final version of Windows Media Player to be released for Mac OS X before development was canceled by Microsoft. It was developed by the Windows Media team at Microsoft instead of the Macintosh Business Unit and released in 2003. On release the application lacked many basic features that were found in other media players such as Apple's iTunes and QuickTime.[citation needed] It also lacked support for many media formats that version 9 of the Windows counterpart supported on release 10 months earlier.
The Mac version supported only Windows Media encoded media (up to version 9) enclosed in the ASF format, lacking support for all other formats such as MP4, MPEG, and Microsoft's own AVI format. On the user interface front, it did not prevent screensavers from running during playback, it did not support file drag-and-drop, nor did it support playlists. While Windows Media Player 9 had added support for some files that use the WMV9 codec (also known as the WMV3 codec by the FourCC), in other aspects it was seen as having degraded in features from previous versions.
On January 12, 2006 Microsoft announced it had ceased development of Windows Media Player for Mac. Microsoft now distributes a third-party plugin called WMV Player (produced and maintained by Flip4Mac) which allows some forms of Windows Media to be played within Apple's QuickTime Player and other QuickTime-aware applications.[24]
Website[edit]
WindowsMedia.com
Type of site
Media player website
Available in
L
Owner
Microsoft
Created by
Microsoft
Revenue
Yes
Website
Archived official website at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
Commercial
No
Registration
No
Users
T
Launched
October 8, 1999; 18 years ago (1999-10-08)
Current status
Active
Written in
ASP.NET
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (March 2017)
WindowsMedia.com is a media player website owned and operated by Microsoft.
European Commission case[edit]
In March 2004, the European Commission in the European Union Microsoft antitrust case fined Microsoft €497 million and ordered the company to provide a version of Windows without Windows Media Player, claiming Microsoft "broke European Union competition law by leveraging its near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems onto the markets for work group server operating systems and for media players". The company has made available a compliant version of its flagship operating system under the negotiated name "Windows XP N", though the product has not been very successful. Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 are also available in "N" editions. Still, with these editions, it is possible to either install Windows Media Player (XP/Vista)[25] or the Media Restore Pack through Windows Update (Vista) to add the media player.
Release history[edit]
Prior to the release of Windows Media Player in Windows 98 Second Edition, separate programs, CD Player, Deluxe CD Player, DVD Player and Media Player, were included in old versions of Microsoft Windows for playback of media files.
Windows Media Player versions[26]
Version
Original release
Included with
Available for
Microsoft Windows
Windows Media Player 12 July 22, 2009 Windows 7
Windows 8
Windows 8.1
Windows 10
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows Server 2016 N/A
Windows Media Player 11 October 30, 2006 Windows Server 2008
Windows Vista Windows XP
Windows XP x64 Edition
Windows Media Player 10 September 2, 2004 Windows Server 2003 (SP1+)
Windows XP x64 Edition (SP2+) Windows Server 2003
Windows XP
Windows XP x64 Edition[27]
Windows Media Player 9 Series January 7, 2003[28] Windows XP (SP2+)
Windows Server 2003 (RTM) Windows XP
Windows ME
Windows 2000
Windows 98 SE
Windows Media Player for Windows XP (version 8) October 25, 2001 Windows XP (RTM & SP1) N/A
Windows Media Player 7.1 May 16, 2001 N/A Windows ME
Windows 2000
Windows 98
Windows NT 4.0
Windows 95
Windows Media Player 7.0 July 17, 2000[29] Windows ME Windows 2000
Windows 98
Windows NT 4.0
Windows 95
Windows Media Player 6.4[b] April 29, 1999 Windows 2000
Windows ME (hidden)
Windows XP (hidden) Windows 98
Windows NT 4.0
Windows 95
Windows Media Player 6.1 September 29, 1997 Windows 98 SE Windows 98
Windows NT 4.0
Windows 95
Microsoft Media Player 5.1 2004 Windows XP (hidden) N/A
Media Player 5.0 1999 Windows 2000 (hidden) N/A
Media Player 4.9 2000 Windows ME (hidden) N/A
Media Player 4.1 1998 Windows 98
Windows 98 SE (hidden) N/A
Media Player 4.0 1995 Windows 95
Windows NT 4.0
N/A
Media Player 3.51 1995 Windows NT 3.51 N/A
Media Player 3.5 1994 Windows NT 3.5 N/A
Media Player 3.15 1992 N/A Windows 3.1 with Video for Windows
Media Player 3.1 1992 Windows 3.1
Windows NT 3.1 N/A
Media Player 3.0 1991 N/A Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extension
Windows Mobile
Windows Media Player 10.3 Mobile February 12, 2007 (Windows Mobile 6) Windows Mobile 6.1
Windows Mobile 6 Windows Mobile 5.0
Windows Media Player 10.2 Mobile ? Windows Mobile 5.0 N/A
Windows Media Player 10.1 Mobile May 10, 2005 Windows Mobile 5.0 N/A
Windows Media Player 10 Mobile October 12, 2004 Windows Mobile 2003 SE N/A
Windows Media Player 9.0.1 March 24, 2004 Windows Mobile 2003 SE N/A
Windows Media Player 9 Series June 23, 2003 Windows Mobile 2003 N/A
Windows Media Player 8.5 October 11, 2002 Pocket PC 2002 N/A
Windows Media Player 8.01 July 2002 Pocket PC 2002 N/A
Windows Media Player 8 October 4, 2001 (Pocket PC) Pocket PC 2002
Smartphone 2002 N/A
Windows Media Player 7.1 May 21, 2001 Pocket PC 2000 N/A
Windows Media Player 7 December 12, 2000 Pocket PC 2000 N/A
Windows Media Player 1.2 September 7, 2000 Handheld PC 2000 N/A
Windows Media Player 1.1 ? Palm-size PC CE 2.11 N/A
Windows Media Player April 19, 2000 Pocket PC 2000 N/A
Mac
Windows Media Player 9 Series November 7, 2003 N/A Mac OS X
Windows Media Player 7 July 24, 2001 Mac OS 9 Mac OS 8
Windows Media Player 6.3 July 17, 2000 Mac OS 8 Mac OS 7
Solaris
Windows Media Player 6.3 July 17, 2000 N/A Solaris
See also[edit]
Comparison of media players
Comparison of video player software
Media Transfer Protocol
Windows Media Encoder
Windows Media Services
Footnotes[edit]
Jump up ^ Except for "N" and "KN" editions of Windows, as well as Windows RT
Jump up ^ Windows Media Player 6.4 was shipped side-by-side with later versions of WMP in Windows ME and Windows XP
References[edit]
Jump up ^ LeBlanc, Brandon (July 22, 2009). "Windows 7 Has Been Released to Manufacturing". Blogging Windows. Microsoft.
Jump up ^ "Windows Media Player 12 - Windows 7 features". Windows. Microsoft. Archived from the original on September 22, 2009. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
Jump up ^ https://winaero.com/blog/kb4046355-deletes-windows-media-player/
Jump up ^ https://winaero.com/blog/restore-windows-media-player-windows-10/
Jump up ^ "Windows Version History". Support (4.0 ed.). Microsoft. September 23, 2011.
Jump up ^ Lineback, Nathan. "Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions". Toasty Tech. Retrieved May 2, 2009.
Jump up ^ "Video for Windows". PC Tech Guide. Retrieved May 2, 2009.
Jump up ^ Blome, Michael; Wasson, Mike (July 2002). "DirectShow: Core Media Technology in Windows XP Empowers You to Create Custom Audio/Video Processing Components". MSDN Magazine. Microsoft. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved May 1, 2009.
Jump up ^ C:\Windows\system32\myplay32.exe. Windows XP. Microsoft Corporation.
Jump up ^ "MPLAYER2.EXE Is Linked to Missing Export MSDXM.OCX". Support. Microsoft. April 25, 2006. Archived from the original on March 14, 2007. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
Jump up ^ "DSP Plug-in Packaging". MSDN. Microsoft.
Jump up ^ LeBlanc, Brandon (April 16, 2012). "Windows Announcing the Windows 8 Editions". The Windows Blog. Archived from the original on April 18, 2012.
^ Jump up to: a b c Peter Bright (October 30, 2008). "Hands on: Windows Media Player 12's surprising new features". ArsTechnica. Condé Nast Digital. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
Jump up ^ "Windows 7 RC to natively support .mov files". Chakkaradeep Chandran. Neowin.net. February 26, 2009. Archived from the original on July 3, 2012. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
Jump up ^ "Windows 7 next generation camera support". Download Center. Microsoft. Archived from the original (PPTX) on December 27, 2008.
Jump up ^ "Formats supported by Windows Media Player Mobile". MSDN. Microsoft. April 8, 2010. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
Jump up ^ "Windows Media Player manual". Download Center. Microsoft. September 1, 2004. Archived from the original (DOC) on June 7, 2005.
Jump up ^ Kiriaty, Yochay; Goldshtein, Sasha (July 2009). "Introducing The Taskbar APIs". MSDN Magazine. Microsoft. Thumbnail Toolbars.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Sinofsky, Steven (May 12, 2009). "Media Streaming with Windows 7". Engineering Windows 7. Microsoft.
Jump up ^ "Skins for Windows Media Player". Windows. Microsoft. Archived from the original on June 9, 2016.
Jump up ^ "Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-047: Critical Vulnerabilities in Windows Media Format Could Allow Remote Code Execution". Microsoft TechNet. Microsoft. September 8, 2009.
Jump up ^ "MS09-047: Description of the security update for Windows Media Format Runtime, Windows Media Services, and Media Foundation: September 8, 2009". Support. Microsoft. September 10, 2009.
Jump up ^ "Microsoft Unveils Windows Media Player for Palm-Size and Pocket PCs". News Center. Microsoft. January 6, 2000. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Windows Media Components for QuickTime". Microsoft. Archived from the original on January 12, 2006. Retrieved March 30, 2007.
Jump up ^ Microsoft. Download Center. "be used to restore Windows Media Player and related technologies to N and KN editions of Windows Vista." Retrieved July 26, 2008
Jump up ^ "Get Windows Media Player". Windows. Microsoft. Archived from the original on August 25, 2010. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
Jump up ^ "MS09-037: Description of the security update for Windows Media Player: August 11, 2009". Support. Microsoft. May 8, 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
Jump up ^ "Final Release of Windows Media 9 Series Starts Next Wave of Digital Media". News Center. Microsoft. January 7, 2013.
Jump up ^ "Microsoft Windows Media Player 7 Brings Click and Play Digital Media To Millions Around the Globe". News Center. Microsoft. July 17, 2000. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
Further reading[edit]
Liron, Marc (2004). "A Little Windows Media Player History...". Windows XP Media Player - The Best There Is?. Retrieved October 7, 2011.
windowsupdateerror.com Windows Live Support
"The default codecs that are included with Windows Media Player 9 and with Windows Media Player 10 (Revision 1.1)". Microsoft Support Center. Microsoft Corporation. August 4, 2005. Retrieved October 7, 2011.
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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about Tom Stoppard's play. For the 1990 film, see Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (film).
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Written by
Tom Stoppard
Characters
Rosencrantz
Guildenstern
The Player
Alfred
Hamlet
Tragedians
King Claudius
Gertrude
Polonius
Ophelia
Horatio
Fortinbras
Soldiers, courtiers, and musicians
Date premiered
24 August 1966
Place premiered
Edinburgh Fringe
Original language
English
Subject
Genre
Tragic comedy
Setting
Shakespeare's Hamlet
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, often referred to as just Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, is an absurdist, existentialist tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard, first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966.[1][2] The play expands upon the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet, the courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The action of Stoppard's play takes place mainly "in the wings" of Shakespeare's, with brief appearances of major characters from Hamlet who enact fragments of the original's scenes. Between these episodes the two protagonists voice their confusion at the progress of events occurring onstage without them in Hamlet, of which they have no direct knowledge.
Comparisons have also been drawn with Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot,[3] for the presence of two central characters who almost appear to be two halves of a single character. Many plot features are similar as well: the characters pass time by playing Questions, impersonating other characters, and interrupting each other or remaining silent for long periods of time.
Contents
[hide]
1 Title
2 Characters
3 Synopsis
4 Summary
4.1 Act One
4.2 Act Two
4.3 Act Three
5 Motifs and ideas
6 Metatheatre
7 Notable productions
7.1 United Kingdom
7.2 Broadway and Off-Broadway
7.3 Radio adaptation
7.4 Film adaptation
8 Reception
9 See also
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
Title[edit]
The title is taken directly from the final scene of Shakespeare's Hamlet. In earlier scenes, Prince Hamlet, having been exiled to England by the treacherous King of Denmark (his uncle, who murdered Hamlet's father to obtain the throne) discovered en route a letter from the King carried by his old but now untrusted friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The letter commanded Hamlet's death upon his arrival in England. Hamlet rewrote the letter to command Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's deaths and escaped back to Denmark. By the end of Shakespeare's play, Prince Hamlet, Laertes, Ophelia, Polonius, King Claudius and Gertrude all lie dead. An ambassador from England arrives to bluntly report "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead" (Hamlet. Act V, Scene II, line 411) and so they join all the stabbed, poisoned, and drowned key characters. By the end of Hamlet, Horatio is the only main figure left alive.
A previous, satirical play of a similar nature named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern was written by W. S. Gilbert in 1874 and performed in 1891.
Characters[edit]
This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (September 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: a pair of schoolmates and childhood friends of Hamlet. They forget who they are quite often. Rosencrantz is simple-minded and is okay with taking things at face value and letting other people do the thinking. Guildenstern is more of a thinker and worries about the consequences and implications for him of an action.
The Player: A travelling actor with his fair share of wits. He speaks of theatre being only about Love, Blood, and Rhetoric. Stating that everything must contain blood, that it is compulsory and that most things end in death. He is often keeping tabs on the young boy Alfred (one of his tragedians).
Hamlet: the Prince of Denmark, nephew to Claudius. Throughout the play he seems to be putting on a different face for different people much as he does in Shakespeare's work.
Tragedians: travelling with the Player, including Alfred. They provide a chorus for the audience and react to specific things that the player says. The Player is often called a puppet master because of the way he controls them as well as everyone else in the play.
King Claudius: the King of Denmark, Hamlet's uncle and stepfather. Sends for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to learn what afflicts Hamlet. Then sends the three off to England with a letter to the English king stating that, as a favour to him and Denmark, Hamlet should be killed on the spot.
Gertrude: the Queen of Denmark, and Hamlet's mother.
Polonius: Claudius's chief adviser. He sees through most of Hamlet's lies and acts but doesn't care enough to bring it to too much attention.
Ophelia: Polonius's daughter. She drifts across the stage from time to time, though no mention of her death is ever present in the play.
Horatio: A friend and schoolmate of Hamlet. He has the last line of the play in the scripted work, which is a direct quote from Hamlet. He says these lines as he is holding his dead friend.
Fortinbras: the nephew of the King of Norway. Appears at the end of the play to take over Denmark, since the Danish monarchy has fallen.
Synopsis[edit]
The play concerns the misadventures and musings of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters from William Shakespeare's Hamlet who are childhood friends of the prince, focusing on their actions with the events of Hamlet as background. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is structured as the inverse of Hamlet; the title characters are the leads, not supporting players, and Hamlet himself has only a small part. The duo appears on stage here when they are off-stage in Shakespeare's play, with the exception of a few short scenes in which the dramatic events of both plays coincide. In Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are used by the King in an attempt to discover Hamlet's motives and to plot against him. Hamlet, however, mocks them derisively and outwits them, so that they, rather than he, are executed in the end. Thus, from Rosencrantz's and Guildenstern's perspective, the action in Hamlet is largely nonsensical and comical.
After the two characters witness a performance of The Murder of Gonzago—the story within a story in the play Hamlet—they find themselves on a boat taking Prince Hamlet to England with the troupe that staged the performance. They are intended to give the English king a message telling him to kill Hamlet. Instead, Hamlet discovers this and switches the letter for another, telling the king to kill Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. During the voyage, the two are ambushed by pirates and lose their prisoner, Hamlet, before resigning themselves to their fate and presumably dying thereafter.
Summary[edit]
Act One[edit]
The play opens with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern betting on coin flips. Rosencrantz, who bets heads each time, wins ninety-two flips in a row. The extreme unlikeliness of this event according to the laws of probability leads Guildenstern to suggest that they may be "within un-, sub- or supernatural forces". The audience learns why they are where they are: the King has sent for them. Guildenstern theorizes on the nature of reality, focusing on how an event becomes increasingly real as more people witness it.
A troupe of Tragedians arrives and offers the two men a show. They seem capable only of performances involving bloodbaths. The next two scenes are from the plot of Hamlet. The first, involving Hamlet and Ophelia, takes place off-stage in the Shakespeare (the stage directions repeat exactly the words in which Ophelia, in the original, describes the event to Polonius). The second is taken directly from Hamlet, and is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's first appearance in that play. Here the Danish king and queen, Claudius and Gertrude, ask the two to discover the nature of Hamlet's recent madness. The royal couple demonstrate an inability to distinguish the two courtiers from one another, as indeed do the characters themselves to their irritation.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern attempt to practise for their meeting with the Prince by one pretending to be Hamlet and the other asking him questions, but they glean no new information from it. The act closes with another scene from Hamlet in which they finally meet the Prince face to face.
Act Two[edit]
The act opens with the end of the conversation between Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Hamlet. Guildenstern tries to look on the bright side, while Rosencrantz makes it clear that the pair had made no progress, that Hamlet had entirely outwitted them.
The Player returns to the stage. He is angry that the pair had not earlier stayed to watch their play because, without an audience, his Tragedians are nothing. He tells them to stop questioning their existence because, upon examination, life appears too chaotic to comprehend. The Player, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern lose themselves in yet another illogical conversation that demonstrates the limits of language. The Player leaves in order to prepare for his production of The Murder of Gonzago, set to be put on in front of Hamlet and the King and Queen.
The royal couple enters and begins another short scene taken directly from Hamlet: they ask about the duo's encounter with the Prince, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern inform them about his interest in the Tragedians' production. After the king and queen leave, the partners contemplate their job. They see Hamlet walk by but fail to seize the opportunity to interrogate him.
The Tragedians return and perform their dress rehearsal of The Murder of Gonzago. The play moves beyond the scope of what the reader sees in Hamlet; characters resembling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are seen taking a sea voyage and meeting their deaths at the hands of English courtiers, foreshadowing their true fate. Rosencrantz does not quite make the connection, but Guildenstern is frightened into a verbal attack on the Tragedians' inability to capture the real essence of death. The stage becomes dark.
When the stage is once again visible, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern lie in the same position as had the actors portraying their deaths. The partners are upset that they have become the pawns of the royal couple. Claudius enters again and tells them to find where Hamlet has hidden Polonius' corpse. After many false starts they eventually find Hamlet, who leaves with the King.
Rosencrantz is delighted to find that his mission is complete, but Guildenstern knows it is not over. Hamlet enters, speaking with a Norwegian soldier. Rosencrantz decides that he is happy to accompany Hamlet to England because it means freedom from the orders of the Danish court. Guildenstern understands that wherever they go, they are still trapped in this world.
Act Three[edit]
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find themselves on a ship that has already set sail. The audience is led to believe that the pair has no knowledge of how they got there. At first, they try to determine whether they are still alive. Eventually, they recognize that they are not dead and are on board a boat. They remember that Claudius had given them a letter to deliver to England. After some brief confusion over who actually has the letter, they find it and end up opening it. They realize that Claudius has asked for Hamlet to be killed. While Rosencrantz seems hesitant to follow their orders now, Guildenstern convinces him that they are not worthy of interfering with fate and with the plans of kings. The stage becomes black and, presumably, the characters go to sleep. Hamlet switches the letter with one he has written himself, an act which takes place off stage in Hamlet.
The pair discovers that the Tragedians are hidden ('impossibly', according to the stage directions) in several barrels on deck. They are fleeing Denmark because their play had offended Claudius. When Rosencrantz complains that there is not enough action, pirates attack. Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and the Player all hide in separate barrels. The lights dim.
When the lights come on again, Hamlet has vanished (in Hamlet it is reported that he was kidnapped by pirates from the ship). Rosencrantz and Guildenstern panic, and re-read the letter to find that it now calls for them to be put to death instead of the prince. Guildenstern cannot understand why he and Rosencrantz are so important as to necessitate their executions.
The Player tells Guildenstern that all paths end in death. Guildenstern snaps and draws the Player's dagger from his belt, shouting at him that his portrayals of death do not do justice to the real thing. He stabs the Player and the Player appears to die. Guildenstern fully believes he has killed the Player. Seconds later, the Tragedians begin to clap and the Player stands up and brushes himself off, revealing the knife to be a theatrical one with a retractable blade. The Tragedians then act out the deaths from the final scene of Hamlet.
The lighting shifts so that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the only ones visible. Rosencrantz still does not understand why they must die. Still, he resigns himself to his fate and his character disappears. Guildenstern wonders when he passed the point where he could have stopped the series of events that has brought him to this point. He disappears as well. The final scene features the last few lines from Shakespeare's Hamlet, as the Ambassador from England announces that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
Motifs and ideas[edit]
Absurdity
Stoppard emphasizes the randomness of the world. In the beginning of Act One, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern bet on coin flips and Rosencrantz wins with heads ninety-two times in a row. Guildenstern creates a series of syllogisms in order to interpret this phenomenon, but nothing truly coincides with the law of probability.[4]
Art vs. Reality
The players help demonstrate the conflict between art and reality. The world in which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern live lacks order. However, art allows people that live in this world. As the Player says, "There's a design at work in all art." Art and the real world are in conflict. In order to reach out to the only reality he can be sure of, Guildenstern exclaims, "No one gets up after death-there is no applause-there is only silence and some second-hand clothes, and that's death." [5] Stoppard also uses his characters to comment on the believability of theatre. While Guildenstern criticises the Player for his portrayal of death, he believes the Player's performance when Guildenstern thinks he has stabbed him with a knife. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern believe exactly what the actors want them to believe.
Metatheatre[edit]
Metatheatre is a central structural element of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Scenes that are staged as plays, dumb shows, or commentaries on dramatic theory and practice, are prominent in both Stoppard's play and Shakespeare's original tragedy Hamlet[6]). In Hamlet, metatheatrical elements include the Player's speech (2.2), Hamlet's advice to the Players (3.2), and the meta-play "The Mousetrap" (3.3). Since Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are characters from Hamlet itself, Stoppard's entire play can be considered a piece of metatheatre. Bernardina da Silveira Pinheiro observes that Stoppard uses metatheatrical devices to produce a "parody" of the key elements of Shakespeare's Hamlet that includes foregrounding two minor characters considered "nonentities" in the original tragedy.[7]
Notable productions[edit]
United Kingdom[edit]
The play had its first incarnation as a 1964 one-act titled Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Meet King Lear. The expanded version under the current title was first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on 24 August 1966, by the Oxford Theatre Group. The play debuted in London with a [8] production directed by Derek Goldby and designed by Desmond Heeley at the Old Vic. It premiered on 11 April 1967, with John Stride as Rosencrantz, Edward Petherbridge as Guildenstern, Graham Crowden as the Player, and John McEnery as Hamlet.[9] The play returned to the National Theatre on 14 December 1995 and this production with Adrian Scarborough as Rosencrantz and Simon Russell Beale as Guildenstern subsequently toured to Belfast, Cork, Bath, Newcastle, Sheffield and Bradford.[10]
In 2011 the play was revived in a production directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, opening at Chichester Festival Theatre before transferring to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London's West End (June–August 2011). It starred Samuel Barnett and Jamie Parker. Tim Curry was originally scheduled to appear as The Player, but dropped out during preview performances at Chichester Festival Theatre, due to ill health and was replaced by Chris Andrew Mellon. In 2013, an excerpt of the play was performed by Benedict Cumberbatch (Rosencrantz) and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Guildenstern) on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the National Theatre.[8][11]
From 25 February to 6 May 2017 the play returned to The Old Vic in a production celebrating its 50th anniversary, directed by David Leveaux and starring Daniel Radcliffe as Rosencrantz and Joshua McGuire as Guildenstern.[12][13][14][15]
Broadway and Off-Broadway[edit]
The Royal National Theatre production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern had a year-long Broadway run from 9 October 1967, through 19 October 1968, initially at the Alvin Theatre, then transferring to the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on 8 January 1968. The production, which was Stoppard's first on Broadway, totalled eight previews and 420 performances.[2] It was directed by Derek Goldby and designed by Desmond Heeley and starred Paul Hecht as the Player, Brian Murray as Rosencrantz and John Wood as Guildenstern. The play was nominated for eight Tony Awards, and won four: Best Play, Scenic and Costume Design, and Producer; the director and the three leading actors were nominated for Tonys, but did not win.[16] The play also won Best Play from the New York Drama Critics Circle in 1968, and Outstanding Production from the Outer Critics Circle in 1969.
The play was profiled in the William Goldman book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway.
A revival in Burbank, California during the early 1980s featured Matthew Faison as Guildenstern and Lane Davies as Rosencrantz.
The play had a 1987 New York revival by Roundabout Theatre at the Union Square Theatre,[2] directed by Robert Carsen and featuring John Wood as the Player, Stephen Lang as Rosencrantz and John Rubinstein as Guildenstern. It ran for 40 performances from 29 April to 28 June 1987.
Several times since 1995, the American Shakespeare Center has mounted repertories that included both Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, with the same actors performing the same roles in each; in their 2001 and 2009 seasons the two plays were "directed, designed, and rehearsed together to make the most out of the shared scenes and situations".[17]
Radio adaptation[edit]
The play has been adapted twice for BBC Radio 3, first on 24 December 1978 directed by John Tydeman; the cast included Edward Petherbridge as Guildenstern, Edward Hardwicke as Rosencrantz, Freddie Jones as The Player, Robert Lang as Claudius, Maxine Audley as Gertrude, Angela Pleasence as Ophelia, and Martin Jarvis as Hamlet. The second adaptation was broadcast on 15 July 2007 as part of a celebration of Stoppard's 70th birthday; the production was directed by Peter Kavanagh with Danny Webb as Rosencrantz, Andrew Lincoln as Guildenstern, Desmond Barrit as The Player, John Rowe as Polonius, Abigail Hollick as Ophelia, Liza Sadovy as Gertrude, Simon Treves as Claudius and John Dougall as Hamlet.
A 1983 radio adaptation was broadcast on the BBC World Service on 17 October directed by Gordon House, with Nigel Anthony as Rosencrantz, Nicky Henson as Guildenstern, Jack May as The Player, John Duttine as Hamlet, Peter Vaughan as Claudius, Marcia Warren as Gertrude, Eileen Tully as Ophelia, Cyril Shaps as Polonius and Alex Jennings as a Tragedian.
Film adaptation[edit]
Main article: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (film)
Film rights to the play were originally bought by MGM in 1968 for a reported $350,000 plus 10% of the profits. John Boorman was announced as director with Bob Chartoff and Irwin Winkler to produce. However the film was not made.[18]
The play was eventually adapted for a film released in February 1990, with screenplay and direction by Stoppard. The motion picture is Stoppard's only film directing credit: "[I]t began to become clear that it might be a good idea if I did it myself—at least the director wouldn't have to keep wondering what the author meant. It just seemed that I'd be the only person who could treat the play with the necessary disrespect."[19] The cast included Gary Oldman as Rosencrantz, Tim Roth as Guildenstern, Richard Dreyfuss as the Player, Joanna Roth as Ophelia, Ian Richardson as Polonius, Joanna Miles as Gertrude, Donald Sumpter as Claudius, and Iain Glen as Hamlet.
Reception[edit]
Upon its release, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead received critical acclaim. Clive Barnes of The New York Times described his play as "very funny, very brilliant, very chilling."[20]
See also[edit]
Theatre portal
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Edinburgh: Cradle of shows that conquered the world" Independent 2 August 2010
^ Jump up to: a b c Michael H. Hutchins (14 August 2006). "A Tom Stoppard Bibliography: Chronology". The Stephen Sondheim Reference Guide. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
Jump up ^ Jim Hunter (2000). Tom Stoppard: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, Jumpers, Travesties, Arcadia. Macmillan.
Jump up ^ Garrett Ziegler (2008). "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead: Themes, Motifs & Symbols". SparkNotes. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
Jump up ^ Johnston, Ian (April 10, 1997). "Lecture on Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead".
Jump up ^ (See John Fleming's analysis in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (2017) http://pum.univ-tlse2.fr/~Rosencrantz-and-Guildenstern-are~.html
Jump up ^ Pinheiro, Bernardina da Silveira (2002). "Stoppard's and Shakespeare's Views on Metatheater". In Resende, Aimara da Cunha; Burns, Thomas LaBorie. Foreign Accents: Brazilian Readings of Shakespeare. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press. pp. 185, 194. ISBN 0-87413-753-5. Retrieved 2015-05-26.
^ Jump up to: a b Alberge, Dalya (2 November 2013). "National Theatre: Night of the stars celebrates 50 years". The Guardian.
Jump up ^ Michael Berry (24 May 2004). "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead". Michael Berry's Web Pages. Retrieved 23 June 2008.
Jump up ^ National Theatre programme for this production printed by Batley Brothers Printers, Clapham, London SW4 0JN, 1995
Jump up ^ http://pum.univ-tlse2.fr/spip.php?page=popup_image&id_article=1989
Jump up ^ See Marianne Drugeon's analysis of Leveaux' production in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Toulouse, 2017) http://pum.univ-tlse2.fr/~Rosencrantz-and-Guildenstern-are~.html#
Jump up ^ "Glenda Jackson leads Old Vic season". www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-09-07.
Jump up ^ "Daniel Radcliffe to play Rosencrantz in Sir Tom Stoppard play at Old Vic". BBC News. 2016-10-06. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
Jump up ^ Billington, Michael (8 March 2017). "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead review—Daniel Radcliffe shines in Stoppard's sprightly comedy". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 April 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
Jump up ^ "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Tony Award Info". BroadwayWorld. 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
Jump up ^ Warren, Jim. "Director's Notes". American Shakespeare Center. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
Jump up ^ Only Die Twice By A. H. WEILER. New York Times (1923-Current file) [New York, N.Y] 25 Feb 1968: D17.
Jump up ^ Brunette, Peter (20 February 1991). "Stoppard Finds the Right Man to Direct His Film". The Los Angeles Times.
Jump up ^ Kabatchnik, Amnon. Blood on the Stage, 1975-2000: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery, and Detection. p. 344.
Further reading[edit]
Stoppard, Tom (1967). Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. London: Faber and Faber. OCLC 228670971.
Stoppard, Tom (2017). John Fleming Nathalie Rivere de Carles, eds. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Toulouse: Presses Universitaires du Midi. CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link) http://pum.univ-tlse2.fr/~Rosencrantz-and-Guildenstern-are~.html
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Internet Broadway Database
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Internet off-Broadway Database
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at Playbill
A Tom Stoppard Bibliography: Chronology at sondheimguide.com.
[show]
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[show]
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values: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead – Afrikaans

values: Розенкранц и Гилденстерн са мъртви – Bulgarian

values: Rosencrantz a Guildenstern jsou mrtvi – Czech

values: Rosenkrans og Gyldenstjerne er døde – Danish

values: Rosencrantz y Guildenstern han muerto – Spanish

values: روزنکرانتز و گیلدنسترن مرده‌اند – Persian

values: 로젠크란츠와 길덴스턴은 죽었다 – Korean

values: Rosencrantz e Guildenstern sono morti – Italian

values: רוזנקרנץ וגילדנשטרן מתים – Hebrew

values: ローゼンクランツとギルデンスターンは死んだ – Japanese

values: Guildenstern og Rosencrantz er døde – Norwegian

values: Розенкранц и Гильденстерн мертвы (пьеса) – Russian

values: Розенкранц і Гільденстерн мертві – Ukrainian

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