About the work
Samuel Beckett's play in two acts („En attendant Godot", „Waiting for Godot") was premiered in Paris in 1953 — in French, since Beckett, an Irishman, lived in Paris and first wrote the play in French. The English version followed in London in 1955. The work is considered a founding text of absurdist theatre and one of the most important texts of the twentieth century.
Plot
On a country road, „un arbre, soir" (a tree, evening) — the stage direction nearly describes the entire setting. Two old men, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), are waiting — for Godot. They do not know exactly who Godot is, whether they have met him before, whether he will come today, what he has promised them. While they wait, they fill the time with wordplay, quarrels, reconciliation, the attempt to hang themselves, the study of their shoes and hats. Pozzo appears, a dominant traveller with a whip, and his servant Lucky on a rope. Lucky on command delivers a senseless, brilliant monologue. They move on. A boy appears and announces that „Mr. Godot" is not coming today but surely tomorrow. Act two: apparently the same day — Pozzo now blind, Lucky mute, the tree has a few leaves. Again a boy, again the message that Godot will come tomorrow. The closing lines: „Shall we go?" — „Yes, let's go." — They do not move.
Cultural significance
Waiting for Godot is one of the most-performed plays of the twentieth century and a key text of post-1945 existentialism. Beckett consistently refused the question „Who is Godot?" — the most famous response: „If I had known, I would have said so in the play." Productions range from Roger Blin (premiere) through Walter Asmus (Beckett's pupil), Peter Hall and Andrei Șerban to Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in 2009. The legendary 1957 performance at San Quentin State Prison — where the prisoners understood waiting best of all — is part of theatre history.