Waiting for Godot

Written last night...

So I've just returned from seeing Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" and it was spectacular. I had been years since I read the play. In fact the last rime was for Dan Piquet's existentialism class in my junior year. Needless to say I did not absorb much of it then, merely read through it, said a few brilliant things about it and promptly forgot it. This viewing of the production, starring Sir Ian McKellin and Patrick Stuart in the respective roles of Gogo and Didi, opened the play up to me in so many ways. There were so many brilliant minds at work on this production. For starters, the set design was spot on. I am not sure of Beckett's set direction for the stage, but I seem to remember it only mentioning a stone and a tree. The set designer has designed a scene where Gogo and Didi appear to be in a decrepit theatre. The lighting truss droops down from above and the remnants of luxury boxes frame the stage. The stage proper is built on a rise in the classical fashion while the stone mentioned in tthe text is in fact the crumbling remains of a stylized column's pedastal. And the ever present tree has burst up through the floorboords pulling up the wooden timbers with it. Without getting to mired down in my own semi-formed analytical ramblings, I think much can be derived from this imagery. Especially with the number of times that Beckett makes reference of the audience in any number of ways. On the back wall of the set rises the remnants of a back stage in the form of a crumbling stone wall by which Sir Ian makes his two entrances. In this wall, the designer has placeda worn out gate that you hardly notice until "Boy's" entrances. At this point, the lighting director shows off a bit, changing the feel of the set by lighting the rear of this gate so as to turn it into a glowing portal, ever just barely out of reach.

It was truly a spectacular and entertaining play. Stuart and McKellin have a wonderful chemistry together that can only come from years of working with one another. They brought a lightness to the work that I had here-to-for overlooked. They banter on stage as the characters in the way that an old married couple would. Knowing what is good for the other, caring for one another, and missing one another.

I wish I could see it again. It reminded me of the many great works I saw at the Tate Modern. Multi-layered, making any number of statements that are open to the interpretation and experience of the viewer. Truly one of the great plays of our time.

N.B. Stuart and McKellin pronounced it God-oh instead of gu-doe...I found that interesting