Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Follow the podcast Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | iHeartRadio | TuneIn | RSS | Follow the podcast

The curtain rises on a country road. There is nothing but a lone, leafless tree in the empty landscape. Two shabbily dressed men meet, linger, and talk. They wait. Apparently, they have a rendezvous with someone named Godot, and they cannot move from the appointed location by the tree. Although whether it is this tree is uncertain, as is, who Godot is, and why they await him.

This is the unique setting of Samuel Beckett’s notoriously confounding landmark of modern drama, Waiting for Godot. The play is famous for its deliberate lack of conventional plot or exposition, such that the critic Vivian Mercier wrote that Beckett “has achieved a theoretical impossibility…a play in which nothing happens twice.” The play is renowned for its intellectual provocation, as a bleak existential rumination, as well as for the rhythm of its hypnotic language. Given its desolate philosophical landscape, Waiting for Godot is also surprisingly funny.

When En Attendant Godot was first performed in a small theatre in Paris in 1953, it was greeted by come critics and audiences with bewilderment and scorn, as it was on its English language premiere in London in 1955. However Harold Hobson in the Sunday Times urged audiences to see the production, promising that the experience would be ‘something that will securely lodge in the corner of your mind for as long as you live.” He was right about the lasting impact of Beckett’s unique creation.

As we record this episode an illustrious new production of the play is on stage at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London, starring Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati, and directed by the inimitable James Macdonald. I was struck when taking my seat in the grand theatre in the Haymarket how far this play has come in the 70 years since its premiere in the tiny theatre in Paris – a staple of drama studies and prestigious production the world over. It’s provocation as a work of theatre remains the same, though, and I am delighted to be joined by Beckett expert, Dr Matthew McFrederick, to help survey this famously challenging landmark of dramatic literature.

The Footnotes that accompany our episode on Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot comprise thoughts on some of Beckett’s sources of inspiration for the play, on the theme of waiting, as well as a few interesting details about the first productions of the play.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Follow the podcast Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | iHeartRadio | TuneIn | RSS | Follow the podcast

Show Notes

The stage is empty but for a single armchair and two dustbins. A sheet is draped over what appears to be a figure sitting in the chair. This is the famous opening tableaux of Samuel Beckett’s play Endgame. Endgame premiered in French at the Royal Court theatre in London in 1957, following on from Beckett’s breakthrough play Waiting for Godot, which four years earlier had shocked the dramatic world and defined an enduring notoriety for the playwright. The shorthand for Endgame is that two of the play’s characters inhabit dustbins, and the central character is blind and unable to move from his chair; in other words, another difficult, existential drama that challenges theatrical convention and our understanding. But it is also a play that can be very funny, as shown in the recent revival at the Old Vic in London starring Daniel Radcliffe and Alan Cumming.

To explore the method, meaning and impact of Beckett’s startlingly original play, I am joined by Beckett expert, Dr Matthew McFrederick, Lecturer in Theatre at the University of Reading.

My conversation with Matt was recorded via video link during the early days of the lockdown for the Coronavirus.

Addendum

This is a brief addendum to episode 3 on Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, extracted from the original conversation with Matt. This excerpt talks about Beckett’s early life, as well as where his first plays came from, including his breakthrough play Waiting for Godot.

We have footnotes for this episode …

These footnotes are a follow-up to our live discussion in episode three of the podcast, including a selection of points from my researches that we didn’t happen to include, as well as follow-up on any facts and questions that came up during our conversation with Matt. It also includes some additional  audio that didn’t make the final cut, where Matt and I talked about Beckett’s early life, as well as where his first plays came from, including of course his breakthrough play Waiting for Godot.

BECOME A PATRON!

Since I launched The Play Podcast in April 2020, I have managed to eschew any form of advertising or sponsorship, and I would like to continue to produce the podcast without doing so. I therefore invite you to help me to continue to make the podcast by becoming a Patron.
Additional benefits available to Patrons include Footnotes on the plays covered in the podcast, as well as exclusive access to The Play Review.

For details click here

Thank you very much for listening and for your support.
Douglas

The Texts

If you are interested in buying the play text or other related books, we’d be delighted if you choose to purchase them by following the links below. We will earn a small commission on every book you purchase, which helps to keep the podcast going. You will also be supporting an independent bookseller. Thank you.