Two days. Estragon and Vladimir. Boots and hats. Looking but seeing nothing. Ropes and pipes. Do we lead or are we lead? Is Godot actually God? So many questions and so few answers. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot has been asking the big questions since it was first produced on the stage in January 1953. To see if you can answer some of them yourself come see the play at the Arakelian Theater in the Firehouse Center for the Arts, Market Square, (Newburyport) Thursday, June 24 - Saturday, June 26 at 8 pm and Sunday, June 27 at 3 pm. Tickets are on sale now ($14 Members • $16 Students/Seniors • $18 Adults) and may be purchased in person, by calling the Box Office at 978/462-7336 or online at www.firehouse.org.
"Waiting for Godot" is the play considered by some to be one of the most prominent works of the "Theatre of the Absurd," as critic Martin Esslin used to describe those plays written in the mid-20thC that mixed broad comedy with tragic images and had characters caught in hopeless situations spewing dialogue that was full of clichés, wordplay, and nonsense. Stephen Haley will work his magic on this particular classic as he directs a strong cast that includes Phil Atkins (Newburyport), Paul Wahn (Byfield), Dylan Fuller (Newburyport), Damon Jesperson (Newburyport) and Max Tullgren (South Berwick, Maine).
Director Stephen Haley, ph.D, is an adjunct professor of psychology at Wentworth. The Newburyport native has been involved with area theater for more than three decades and is no stranger to the Firehouse. Often cited as being the one to bring “serious” theater to Newburyport, he has a special love for the Frenchman who was one of the main players in the “Absurd” theater movement. In 2007 Haley directed three short plays in an evening called “3 by Beckett” (Not I, Act Without Words I, Footfalls) which filled the Arakelian Theater with grateful patrons eager to experience drama on their home turf. They were not disappointed. In addition he has directed End Game, Happy Days, Act Without Words II, Play Rockaby, Krapps Last Tape… all Beckett and all at the Firehouse. During his lengthy career as a director he has worked with Anna Smulowitz of Smulowitz Productions, Mark Clopton of the Actor's Studio, Suzanne Bryan of Persephone Theater, Theater in the Open, Exit Dance Theatre, and Jeffrey Adams and Mara Clark of Harbor Theater Festival.
Originally written in French (En attendant Godot), Samuel Beckett translated his own work thereby creating what many critics feel to be the most significant English language play of the 20th century. The French version of the play premiered in January 1953 in Paris. Ever since, Waiting for Godot has been dissected and discussed, searching for Beckett's intended meaning. Norman Berlin, author and theater critic, wrote of the pared-down aspect of this play: "'Less' forces us to look for 'more.'" The interpretations continue despite Beckett's own admission "Why people have to complicate a thing so simple I can't make out."
As the play opens, two men, Vladimir and Estragon, wait for someone named Godot. Godot is never actually seen by the audience. Over the course of two days it becomes clear that these two characters do not really know Godot well at all, might not even recognize him by sight. And so the conversation goes, with the two discussing subjects as diverse as repentance, the dismal nature of the surroundings in which they find themselves and death by hanging. Like an old married couple they argue, bicker, nag and admonish each other about their shortcomings. Like an old married couple some of this is outrageously funny!
Is Godot God? Is this play the philosophical raison d’être for the existentialists? Is the lone tree meant to represent a cross and Vladimir and Estragon the two thieves pulled straight from the Christian Bible? Seen by some as an allegory of the cold war or of French resistance to the Germans, political interpretations also abound. Come and make up your own mind. At the very least it will give you something to talk about over the water cooler come Monday morning -- a little food for thought to go with your drink.
That's right -- see remarkable theater right here in Newburyport (thank you Mr. Haley). Don't miss this one.
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