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Stuart King

Review: WAITING FOR GODOT at Theatre Royal Haymarket

By Friday, September 20 2024, 05:54 - Reviews -

Samuel Beckett’s dystopian nightmare in which Vladimir and Estragon occupy a desolate landscape with merely a tree and a rock to occupy their thoughts, has become a byword for existential limbo. The environment causes the fractious codependent pair to scramble incessantly in their bid to fill the void with commentaries on the mundane — boots, hats, carrots and a failing prostate. They bicker and disagree in their loneliness, as they await the arrival of the mysterious Godot who may somehow confer meaning on their situation and existence.

Ben Whishaw, Lucian Msamati, Tom Edden, and Jonathan Slinger in Waiting for Godot at Theatre Royal Haymarket. Photo Marc BrennerBen Whishaw, Lucian Msamati, Tom Edden, and Jonathan Slinger in Waiting for Godot at Theatre Royal Haymarket. Photo Marc Brenner

Written shortly after the Second World War, WAITING FOR GODOT has continued to be staged the world over with many and varied interpretations. The text is a minefield of repetition, ambiguity and austere imagery which requires considerable skill and imagination to convey ‘human existence on the brink’ whilst at the same time transcending despondency through finding ways to present the absurdist humour which is integral to the piece.

Both Lucian Msamati as Estragon and Ben Whishaw as Vladimir plumb the depths to find the emotional layers necessary to bring these husks of humanity to life. Msamati’s grouchy frustration at both the lack of sleep and a serviceable memory, is both at odds and a perfect foil to Whishaw’s twitchy sensitivity and need to cajole his companion to focus on the moment at hand as though it will aid his memory tomorrow. Inevitably the day ends, night falls without Godot’s arrival and a new day dawns.

Is Godot God? Is he Death? Is he the meaning in life which the characters seemingly crave, but which eludes them? And what of Beckett’s purpose in introducing two further characters Pozzo (Jonathan Slinger) and Lucky (Tom Edden) who twice appear as tethered slave and equally tethered master? This existential conundrum has taxed thinkers, critics and academics for decades and it would be an extreme demonstration of hubris to think that I could unravel the undoubted complexities in a mere theatre review. Suffice to state that the play (which has so often been synonymous with overwrought performances, long pregnant pauses and unexplained angst) is delivered here with a level of wit, timing and sincerity which is rarely achieved in productions of Beckett’s complex and infuriating enigma.

Under James MacDonald’s sharp direction, each cast member fully realises their moment to express profound disenchantment with this life, perhaps best summed-up in the observation: “They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it’s night once more”. Rarely has pessimism been this poetic, nor indeed, graphic.

Waiting For Godot plays at the Haymarket Theatre Royal until 14th December.