![]() Suffice it to say that the sheer speed of the bare dialogue makes you want to slow down and look for something queer happening between the lines, but nothing happens. Or like a blurb-writer I could summarise the four-and-a-half characters, the austere landscape, the leafless tree, the role of the taut rope and jangling bucket, and the heap of nonsense, but what would that achieve? ![]() I could draw upon the elusive symbolism of the text in the manner of a perspicacious hermeneut whose convoluted exegesis would only serve to frustrate him even more. Waiting and nothing – I could take these two words and use them in as many combinations as the rules of probability allow to create a ‘review’ that would be as much meaningful as it would be meaningless. “What happened?" “Nothing happened.” “Why did nothing happen? “How would I know?” “You would know.” “I would?” “Yes.” “How I would know?” “Because you read it.” “Did I?” “Yes.“ “How do you know?” “It is on your shelf.” “So?” “You rated it.” “What does it mean?” “It means you have read it.” “Oh I have.” “So what happened?” “Nothing happened.” “Why did nothing happen?” “Because they were waiting for Godot.” Waiting and nothing – I could take these two words and use them in as many combinations as the rules of probabili “What happened?" Here, on facing pages, the reader can watch it unfold simultaneously in two languages.more ![]() Waiting for Godot is also a play that was written twice. Subtitled 'a tragicomedy in two acts', and once famously described by the Irish critic Vivian Mercier as a play in which 'nothing happens, twice'. To mark the centenary of Beckett's birth and the fiftieth anniversary of its original publication, Faber are now publishing for the first time a bilingual edition of this great masterpiece. It was performed at the Arts Theatre in London in 1955, and first published by Faber in 1956. To mark the centenary of Beckett's birth and the fiftieth anniversary of its original publication, Written in French and first performed at the Th��tre du Bablyone in Paris, in 1953, En attendant Godot was subsequently translated by Samuel Beckett into English as Waiting for Godot. Set design by Catherine Nadal is a simple but appropriate white plateau and metallic tree with subtle but very well designed lighting by Alexandre Boghossian that plays with colours, warmth, silhouettes and a backlights with a lovely starry effect in the second act.Written in French and first performed at the Th��tre du Bablyone in Paris, in 1953, En attendant Godot was subsequently translated by Samuel Beckett into English as Waiting for Godot. It’s a traditional approach but one with works- apart from one or two very small moments that felt less authentic, the actors’ play is vivid, physical, skilful and emotive their presence and interaction remarkably strong and sweeps the audience into each swift change of emotion rendering the the text (that could otherwise seem to be nonsensical)perfectly lucid, throwing up themes of companionship, power relations, control, love, desperation and hope. ![]() The production, directed by Jean- Marie Russo, who also plays Vladimir is absorbing. The closet they get to their Godot is via a shepherd boy messenger of Godot’s (played alternately by François Grange and Robin Peter) who appears only to defer the meeting. To fill time they debate, play, argue, think, fight and make up repeatedly and meet two strange characters- Pozzo a dictating bigot (well played up style camp- severe by Manuel Bonnet) and his ‘slave’, a salivating, beaten down old man Lucky (embodied fiercely and comically by Michel Robbe) who is silent apart from odd momnets of dance and diatribes of spoken thought. Two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, find themselves in a barren landscape where they believe they must wait for ‘Godot’ under a certain bare tree for an important rendez vous. I guess most of you know the play but for those who don’t, Waiting for Godot is Irish Samuel Beckett’s most well known work, written in French and studied and performed in multiple languages globally. How would this singing, dancing, flamboyant and very Oirish musician shape up in a serious and complex rôle revolving around word play in a French text (albeit written by an Irishman).Ī week later on a rainy Thursday night in the front row of the laneway theatre in the 20th ( Théâtree le Proscenium) it was time to find out. When Paddy Sherlock, singer and trombonist from the explosive seven piece swing outfit from the Coolin in Paris proclaimed that he was the first Irish man to be playing Waiting for Godot in French in Paris… it was quickly noted at an event to attend.
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