Waiting for Godot (1953)

I'm very unsure how to review this, as it is the sort of play that doesn't read particularly well (in my opinion), but I can see that it would be fantastic on stage, with the right people playing the parts.

I have a feeling that I would give the writing four or five stars after having seen it live, but the quick back-and-forth of conversation and the featured nothingness mean that I would probably only give it two stars if it were just a book to read.

Plays can't really be read without considering what they're there for, though, so I've bumped up my rating. If I'm ever lucky enough to see a performance of the show, I'll likely change my rating to reflect how the script works for me on stage. ( )

When I was little my parents took us to see every kind of theatre. My favourite, apart from Shakespeare, was Theatre of the Absurd. You could always tell that's where you were going as you had to bring a cushion to sit on....it was always put on in theatres that couldn't afford seats.

I can't resist telling the story of my niece when she auditioned for RADA a few years ago. When asked what she'd acted in, she was already stuck. Dredging up the name of a play she vaguely recalled reading in high school she said 'Waiting for Godot'. 'And what role did you play' they continued. 'Godot' she confidently stated. 'And how did you interpret the role of Godot' they asked next (presumably finding it hard not to laugh out loud). At which point, feeling she was on a roll, (perhaps that should be role, under the circumstances) she got up some steam and held forth for a bit about her personal take on Godot.

Apparently it did her no harm at all. At the end it was obvious that she had some good acting attributes...It was only some time later, when telling somebody about the interview that she discovered the error she had made. ( )

When I was little my parents took us to see every kind of theatre. My favourite, apart from Shakespeare, was Theatre of the Absurd. You could always tell that's where you were going as you had to bring a cushion to sit on....it was always put on in theatres that couldn't afford seats.

I can't resist telling the story of my niece when she auditioned for RADA a few years ago. When asked what she'd acted in, she was already stuck. Dredging up the name of a play she vaguely recalled reading in high school she said 'Waiting for Godot'. 'And what role did you play' they continued. 'Godot' she confidently stated. 'And how did you interpret the role of Godot' they asked next (presumably finding it hard not to laugh out loud). At which point, feeling she was on a roll, (perhaps that should be role, under the circumstances) she got up some steam and held forth for a bit about her personal take on Godot.

Apparently it did her no harm at all. At the end it was obvious that she had some good acting attributes...It was only some time later, when telling somebody about the interview that she discovered the error she had made. ( )

I knew something of it coming into it, and although I've never seen it performed, I liked it. There was a sense of the electricity of evening, something like what I experienced while playing *Proteus*, something about possibility, about the loneliness of an open field, of one other close to you nearby, of the absurdity of passing time. I liked it. ( )

This entire play reads like one scene. The reader/audience does not really even know WHY Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for Godot (a job? a payment? some other agreement?), or why they feel they must stay, or will hang themselves if Godot never comes.

While there are definite moments of comedy (namely the hat scene--I don't find a man leading another man by a rope to be funny), I really just don't get this. Nothing happens, nothing is resolved. Nothing changes other than boots and hats. ( )