Is it Worth Waiting for Godot? 

Witty, unpretentious, poignant, profound – James Macdonald’s stunning production recently opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, starring Lucian Msamati (Game of Thrones) as Estragon and Ben Wishaw (Paddington) as Vladimir. Describing the performance as ‘two people who have absolutely nothing, waiting for something’, I believe Macdonald hits the nail on the head of what this amazing play has to offer. 

Waiting For Godot explores something all of us have in common; an attempt to find answers to the unanswerable. The performance conveys an innocent, wide-eyed hope of salvation intertwined with a bleak realisation of human futility. The raw, grounded emotions of both Estragon and Vladimir are recognisable to everyone – we can find ourselves and others within the two of them. The veiled dialogue brought the night to life with its brilliant mixture of contradictions: from humour and pathos, certainty and doubt (Vladimir: “so there you are again”. Estragon: “Am I?”), longing and defiance, constraint and freedom, (Estragon: “We are not tied?” Vladimir: “to Godot? Tied to Godot! What an idea!”).  

Beckett’s astute recognition of pain and suffering forms a revealing mirror to human conscience. My favourite lines of the evening demonstrate his skills; Pozzo’s poignant “The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep, somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh” and one of the most memorable judgements: “They give birth astride a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it’s night once more”.  

However, it was not only Beckett’s astonishing skills in writing, but the actors’ illuminating performances that made the evening the memorable event that it was. Wishaw perfectly captured Vladimir’s ceaseless hope and optimism in a way that encouraged the audience to both sympathise with him and recognise his naivety. Msamati’s performance encapsulated both Estragon’s bitterness and his innocence. Tom Edden’s comical yet profound portrayal of Lucky, combined with Jonathan Slinger’s witty (and pretty problematic) Pozzo made for the perfect dynamic that I’m sure Beckett desired to produce; the interdependence of the owner and the slave, the powerful and those who generate that power. The audience members’ frequent laughter showed their appreciation of the many comic moments, which were perfectly timed. The production also has 5,000 tickets available at £25 or less for young people, students and key workers.  

 There is so much to be said for the staging too! Rae Smith’s monochrome, textured wave-like surface conveyed the elemental, rustic themes that pervaded the play, which to me also resembled a page, with one corner draped over the edge of the stage, as if the characters belonged to one premeditated story. Smith’s work also paired excellently with Bruno Poet’s thoughtful lighting choices, and the shadows that played upon the stage when the day faded to night created an ominous, foreboding atmosphere that added to the play’s power.  

This play was written just after the World War II and reflects Beckett’s own war-time experiences as a Resistance agent, experiencing the tedious reality of waiting in a hide-out in the south of France, as well as waiting for the horror of war to end and ‘real’ life to begin again. We have all had the shared experience of waiting to be released from lockdown during the Covid 19 pandemic.  At the same time, this is a work that leaves so much to interpretation that you can find your own story written all over it. So in conclusion yes, it indeed is worth Waiting for Godot!