Introduction & Overview of Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth by Tom Stoppard

Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth Introduction

Dogg's Hamlet and Cahoot's Macbeth are two one-act plays by Tom Stoppard, which are often performed together as Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth. First published together in England in 1979, the two plays were inspired by separate sources. Dogg's Hamlet is an expanded version of two earlier, similar plays. The play is based on a section of the philosophical investigations by Ludwig Wittgenstein, who explored how people use language to communicate. The play introduces an alternate language, called Dogg, which uses English words that have different meanings in Dogg. This inconsistency leads to confusion on the part of the play's characters, who try to communicate in their respective languages, English and Dogg. By the end of this first play, the English-speaking character, Easy, is speaking Dogg.

Cahoot's Macbeth, which is more political in nature, was dedicated to a Czechoslovakian playwright, Pavel Kohout. Because censorship in his country prevented public theatrical...
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