Waiting for Godot
Godot Festival D’Avignon 1978
‘Waiting for Godot’ is a tragicomedy in two acts by Samuel Beckett. In Act One: Vladimir and Estragon, meet under the only tree in a desolate landscape. A tree with no leaves. They talk back and forth about many things as they wait for someone called Godot, who never arrives. Act Two: The same but different. Vladimir and Estragon, meet under the only tree in a desolate landscape. A tree which now has a few leaves. They talk back and forth about many things as they wait for someone called Godot, who never arrives. They say they will now go but they stay. The play ends. One joke two acts!
‘Silence is pouring into this play like water into a sinking ship’.
Samuel Beckett.
It was a low time in my life, lots of heartache, too much drinking. I hoped that keeping myself busy would help me. It’s what I had always done with emotional pain in my life. I would put on a show. The play I chose was ‘Waiting for Godot’. Even though I knew that it was one of the most difficult in the Canon. In my hubris, I thought it would be a walk in the park. I have never more regretted a decision in my theatrical life. This can be a masterpiece, but mine was not. LOL! For even though the actors Tom Jones and Walter Fielder were both capable and worked their butts off. I completely failed to make it work. The ‘Anti-play’ I called it all those years ago and I haven’t changed my mind. I, still smart, from the memory and how this one got away from me.