Staged worldwide for over seven decades, Canberra’s The Street Theatre presents a brand new production of Waiting for Godot, Beckett’s ground-breaking classic of comic play, exquisite prose and enormous humanity, this November.
Considered by many to be one of, if not the, most influential play of the 20th century, Dublin-born Nobel Prize-winning writer Samuel Beckett captured the consciousness of generations with his landmark work.
Didi and Gogo wait by a tree for a man named Godot. They don’t know who he is, why they are meeting or what time he is coming – only that something incredible could happen when he does…
“Let us do something, while we have the chance… at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it before it is too late!”
Beckett wrote in French and English and also translated his works, writing En attendant Godot as a French language play opening on stage in Paris in 1953 followed by his English version of the play premiering in London and on Broadway in the same decade. Witty and absurd, poignant and profound, Waiting For Godot has been produced in a myriad of contexts from theatres to prisons, and in over twenty languages.
“I’ve wanted to bring the Godot experience to Canberra audiences for a long time,” said The Street Artistic Director Caroline Stacey OAM. “Right now post pandemic in our world of wicked problems how we get up every morning, how we get through each day never knowing whether our hopes and dreams might be granted, offers an affirming act of hope as well as absolute delight in working with terrific actors inhabiting Beckett’s words”.
This edgy, darkly funny, and absorbing play that changed everything is brought gloriously to life by award-winning actors Christopher Samuel Carroll (Crime and Punishment, Art); PJ Williams (Crime and Punishment, Twenty Minutes with the Devil); Craig Alexander (Art, St Nicholas) and James Scott (Lies, Love and Hitler, The Very Sad Fish Lady) under the direction of Caroline Stacey OAM (Crime and Punishment, Twenty Minutes with the Devil, Constellations).
Designer Veronique Benett (Happy Days, Exit the King) performs a unique triple manoeuvre taking on set, costume and light, while Kimmo Vennonen (Crime and Punishment, Breaking The Castle) takes on sound.
Seeing Waiting for Godot on the stage is a remarkable experience that audiences can discover or rediscover. You won’t want to miss the playfulness of characters who hope and wait, and this timeless take on what it means to be human.
“Something that will securely lodge in the corner of your mind for as long as you live.” – Harold Hobson, Author and Critic
Waiting for Godot
The Street Theatre, 15 Childers Street, Canberra City West
Season: 9 – 24 November 2024 (preview: 8 November)
Information and Bookings: www.thestreet.org.au
Image: Waiting for Godot – design by DesignCult