SAMUEL BECKETT
Samuel Beckett was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, theatre director, poet and literary translator. He was born in 1906 in Dublin and died in 1989 in Paris. Beckett's notable works include, Murphy, Watt, Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable, Waiting for Godot and Endgame. In 1969 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Beckett wrote in both English and French but his most well-known works were in French. Waiting for Godot was successful in the Theatre de Babylone and ran for 400 performances. This play focused on human despair and the will to survive in a hopeless world that offers no help in understanding. This style of writing is known as the Theatre of the Absurd.
THEATRE OF THE ABSURD
The Theatre of the Absurd movement consisted of different post-World War II plays which agreed with philosopher Camus's statement, that the human situation is essentially absurd and devoid of purpose. Characterised by a fascination with absurdity in all its forms - philosophical, dramaturgical, existential, emotional - this is a drama form that pushes theatre to extremes, and which asks probing questions about what reality (and unreality) really looks like. In Beckett's Waiting for Godot, plot is eliminated, and a timeless, circular quality emerges as two lost creatures, usually played as tramps, spend their days waiting without any certainty of whom they are waiting for or if he, or it, will ever come.
WAITING FOR GODOT
Waiting for Godot's first performance was January 5, 1953. Beckett wrote Waiting for Godot just after the end of the German occupation of France and during those years, Beckett and Suzanne, his future wife, were members of the French Resistance. The French Resistance was an underground movemebt that rebelled against Nazi forces by passing secret information about the Nazis. This information was passed using codes which were similar to the brief poetic language that the characters use in the play. Beckett and Suzanne were forced to escape by fleeing to the French hamlet of Roussillon where they picked grapes such like the characters in Waiting for Godot, Vladimir and Estragon. The blend of the coded speech and the waiting for, (Nazis to find them or the Allies to free them) has been linked to Godot of Beckett's own experience. Some imagine that "Godot is a play about the Resistance; characters have code names, get beaten by the Gestapo, and carry on their assignments." Waiting for Godot has links in the social context as waiting was the hardest part during the Cold War should the idea of a nuclear threat become real. The relationship between the two characters could also link to the relationships within the French as in waiting for the expected showdown between the two superpowers.
Beckett refused to elaborate on the characters beyond what he had written in the play. He didn't have a visual image of Vladimir and Estragon when he wrote the play. They are never referred to as 'tramps' in the text but they are often depicted as such on stage. Normand Berlin wrote, "Because the play is so stripped down, so elemental, it invites all kinds of social and political and religious interpretations.".
ORIGINAL STAGING CONDITIONS
The first performance was in Paris, France, at the Theatre de Babylone on the 5th January 1953, and was performed in French. The performance didn't receive any good reviews and the audience became quite rowdy. The theatre only had 75 seats and the budget was very small so there was a fair bit of creativity. For example, the director stepped in for Pozzo's character as the original actor dropped out, and had to strap pillows to him to get a more fitting physical appearance. Another example was that the briefcase was found in the bin.
The original cast was:
- Vladimir: Lucien Raimbourg
- Estragon: Pierre Latour
- Lucky: Jean Martin
- Pozzo: Roger Blin
- Boy: Serge Lecointe
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