SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
Writing for Us
A CurtainUp Review
Waiting For Godot
|
We are all born mad. Some remain so.
--Estragon In an instant all will vanish and we'll be alone once more, in the midst of nothingness! --Vladimir |
Michael Rhodes as Estragon (left) and Greg Skura as Vladimir (right)
(Photo: A. Rhodes) |
It might be argued that never before has a play of so little (comparatively speaking) evoked such a firestorm of controversy. When Beckett's Waiting for Godot premiered in 1953 public opinion was completely divided. Critics called it "fascinating" and "noble" as well as "indecent" and "baffling." Now, of course, it is an acknowledged classic of twentieth-century theatre, and Tangent Theatre Company has mounted a fiftieth anniversary production that neatly coincides with the premiere of Beckett/Albee.
Beckett's masterpiece and best known play takes place in a nonspecific, unchanging landscape that was perhaps meant to be a metaphor for the eternal. Vladimir and Estragon are the figures in the landscape. They are not quite characters in the traditional sense since they are unchanging and do not interact with each other in any meaningful way. The mysterious Godot they are waiting for never appears though other figures occasionally do appear, but they too are disjointed and helpless.
Estragon and Vladimir often remark on their surroundings: "We're in hell!". . . "Look at this muckheap!. . . " "I've never stirred from it!". . . "Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful!" They do not recognize their landscape, and cannot remember what they are doing or why they are there. They are simply waiting, along with the landscape, for something to happen.
To estrogen's "Well, shall we go?" Vladimir replies ". Yes, let's go". But they do not move.
At times Godot is blackly funny, as when Estragon and Vladimir decide to try and hang themselves from the tree that is little more than a shrub. At other times it's truly disturbing, as when Pozzo and Lucky show up. Pozzo drives Lucky on with a whip and a rope; Lucky is half-dead, laden with Pozzo's things, and has had a rope around his neck so long he can't breathe properly. Estragon and Vladimir don't protest Pozzo's treatment of his servant; they merely join in the taunting. Pozzo (admirably played by Paul Molnar), who must be the center of attention, is quite grotesque in his neediness and is almost ruthlessly loquacious.
Pozzo and Lucky's appearances are the only real action the play ever sees. That's not to say, however,that nothing happens. Things do happen, but they s do not change the story or the actions of Vladimir and Estragon. In fact, very little, if anything, changes in this play. It is almost a perfect circle of repetition. Without a linear plot as such, it seems to be a meditation on the relationship of the characters to their environment.
Kant declared it was impossible to know anything outside one's own experience of reality. In Godot, it is neither the characters nor the landscape that assume central importance; it is the characters' subjective experience of the landscape that matters.
Michael Rhodes as Estragon and Greg Skura Vladimir do a bravura job of remaining centered in their performances. Their Estragon and Vladimir, while in the most confusing of worlds, never seem stymied by their situation. They can't make sense of it, so they simply accept it and move on. Short of an annoying insistence on saying "GODoh" rather than "goDOH", their characterizations are as authentic as any could be. Lucky (Jeffrey M. Bender) is a little overdone, but his one speech is startling.
Keith Teller's direction makes the most of their small world and the small stage; though the actors repeat the same lines and the same actions, each repetition feels and looks fresh.
Though it's a long play that can be exceedingly frustrating for audiences used to a story, a fast-moving plot and a neat ending, Godot is quite simply one of the most remarkable plays of the past half-century; of the past century. Ever. Though it's studied in almost every world literature and theatre history class, it's rarely given a professional production these days. Bring a pillow, but don't miss this Waiting for Godot.
|
WAITING FOR GODOT Written by Samuel Beckett Directed by Keith Teller> With Jeffrey M. Bender (Lucky), Paul Molnar (Pozzo), Noah Longo (Boy), Michael Rhodes (Estragon) and Greg Skura (Vladimir) Set Design by Eric Southern Lighting Design by Deborah Constantine Running time: 2 hours and forty minutes with one intermission Tangent Theatre Company at Center Stage, 48 West 21st Street, 4th Floor, 212-946-5008 10/08/03 through 10/25/03 Reviewed by Jenny Sandman based on October 14th performance |
Mendes at the Donmar
Our Review
At This Theater
Leonard Maltin's 2003 Movie and Video Guide
Ridiculous!The Theatrical Life & Times of Charles Ludlam
Somewhere For Me, a Biography of Richard Rodgers
The New York Times Book of Broadway: On the Aisle for the Unforgettable Plays of the Last Century
6, 500 Comparative Phrases including 800 Shakespearean Metaphors by CurtainUp's editor.
Click image to buy.
Go here for details and larger image.
