Waiting for Godot

Samuel Beckett’s monumental work first performed in 1953 has gained critical acclaim not because it is topical or “avant-garde” but because it introduced the idea that theater could be more than entertaining, could reflect more than the trivial affairs of life or even our deepest emotions. Waiting for Godot introduced the idea that theater can focus on the spiritual and philosophical questions of the meaning of life and still be engaging and entertaining. It was not however, an instant success…In its first English language run in London Sir Malcolm Sargent, a member of The Evening Standard Drama Awards threatened to resign if Godot won The Best New Play category, so a compromise was worked out by changing the title of the award. Waiting for Godot became The Most Controversial Play of the Year which is a prize that has never been given since.

In the current Roundabout Theater revival seamlessly directed by Anthony Page, Beckett’s existential perspective looms over the actors and the sparse set and diffuses throughout the theater so you don’t so much watch the play as experience it. The two main characters Estragon and Vladimir (affectionately known as Gogo and Didi) played by Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin, respectively, spend their time waiting for Godot who (and don’t worry, this is definitely not a spoiler) of course never shows. While never explicitly stated, think of Godot as the meaning of life. They are doomed to repeat the same routine day after day but the concept of time gets fuzzy as things never really change. They (we) are torn by the desire to understand vs. the need to accept our plight. The men seem to have been close for a long time and yet they (we) are each alone in the world to face its essential enigma.

The other two main characters are Pozzo (John Goodman) and his slave