WEBVTT 00:00:07.184 --> 00:00:09.094 A shabby man named Estragon, 00:00:09.094 --> 00:00:12.524 sits near a tree at dusk and struggles to remove his boot. 00:00:12.524 --> 00:00:14.804 He’s soon joined by his friend Vladimir, 00:00:14.804 --> 00:00:17.204 who reminds his anxious companion that 00:00:17.204 --> 00:00:19.964 they must wait here for someone called Godot. 00:00:19.964 --> 00:00:23.964 So begins a vexing cycle in which the two debate 00:00:23.964 --> 00:00:26.484 when Godot will come, why they’re waiting, 00:00:26.484 --> 00:00:29.264 and whether they’re even at the right tree. 00:00:29.264 --> 00:00:32.994 From here, Waiting for Godot only gets stranger - 00:00:32.994 --> 00:00:35.504 but it’s considered a play that changed 00:00:35.504 --> 00:00:37.634 face of modern drama. 00:00:37.634 --> 00:00:41.963 Written by Samuel Beckett between 1949 and 1955, 00:00:41.963 --> 00:00:45.623 it offers a simple but stirring question - 00:00:45.623 --> 00:00:48.873 what should the characters do? 00:00:48.873 --> 00:00:52.443 E: Don’t let's do anything. It's safer. 00:00:52.443 --> 00:00:55.893 V: Let’s wait and see what he says. 00:00:55.893 --> 00:00:57.163 E: Who? 00:00:57.163 --> 00:00:59.123 V: Godot. 00:00:59.123 --> 00:01:00.793 E: Good idea. 00:01:00.793 --> 00:01:04.503 Such cryptic dialogue and circular reasoning are 00:01:04.503 --> 00:01:07.163 key features of the Theatre of the Absurd, 00:01:07.163 --> 00:01:10.413 a movement which emerged after the Second World War 00:01:10.413 --> 00:01:12.263 and found artists struggling 00:01:12.263 --> 00:01:14.653 to find meaning in devastation. 00:01:14.653 --> 00:01:19.343 The absurdists deconstructed plot, character and language 00:01:19.343 --> 00:01:21.853 to question their meaning and share 00:01:21.853 --> 00:01:25.073 their profound uncertainty on stage. 00:01:25.073 --> 00:01:27.613 While this may sound grim, 00:01:27.613 --> 00:01:30.793 the absurd blends its hopelessness with humor. 00:01:30.793 --> 00:01:33.553 This is reflected in Beckett’s unique approach 00:01:33.553 --> 00:01:35.493 to genre in Waiting for Godot, 00:01:35.493 --> 00:01:38.943 which he branded “a tragicomedy in two acts. 00:01:38.943 --> 00:01:42.083 Tragically, the characters are locked in an 00:01:42.083 --> 00:01:45.203 existential conundrum: they wait in vain 00:01:45.203 --> 00:01:47.963 for an unknown figure to give them a sense of purpose, 00:01:47.963 --> 00:01:49.863 but their only sense of purpose 00:01:49.863 --> 00:01:51.963 comes from the act of waiting, 00:01:51.963 --> 00:01:55.263 While they wait, they sink into boredom, 00:01:55.263 --> 00:01:59.263 express religious dread and contemplate suicide. 00:01:59.263 --> 00:02:03.683 But comically, there is a jagged humor to their predicament, 00:02:03.683 --> 00:02:06.513 which comes across in their language and movements. 00:02:06.513 --> 00:02:09.733 Their interactions are filled with bizarre wordplay, 00:02:09.733 --> 00:02:11.613 repetition and double entendres, 00:02:11.613 --> 00:02:14.723 as well as physical clowning, singing and dancing, 00:02:14.725 --> 00:02:17.325 and frantically swapping their hats. 00:02:17.325 --> 00:02:19.955 It’s often unclear whether the audience is supposed to 00:02:19.955 --> 00:02:22.835 laugh or cry - or whether Beckett saw 00:02:22.835 --> 00:02:24.795 any difference between the two. 00:02:24.795 --> 00:02:27.915 Born in Dublin, Beckett studied English, 00:02:27.915 --> 00:02:30.585 French and Italian before moving to Paris, 00:02:30.585 --> 00:02:33.605 where he spent most of his life writing theatre, 00:02:33.605 --> 00:02:35.335 poetry and prose. 00:02:35.335 --> 00:02:38.575 While Beckett had a lifelong love of language, 00:02:38.575 --> 00:02:42.575 he also made space for silence by incorporating gaps, 00:02:42.575 --> 00:02:46.575 pauses and moments of emptiness into his work. 00:02:46.575 --> 00:02:50.265 This was a key feature of his trademark 00:02:50.265 --> 00:02:53.155 uneven tempo and black humor, 00:02:53.155 --> 00:02:56.405 which became popular throughout the Theatre of the Absurd. 00:02:56.405 --> 00:02:58.885 He also cultivated a mysterious persona, 00:02:58.885 --> 00:03:02.235 and refused to confirm or deny any speculations 00:03:02.235 --> 00:03:04.585 about the meaning of his work. 00:03:04.585 --> 00:03:06.175 This kept audiences guessing, 00:03:06.175 --> 00:03:09.395 increasing their fascination with his surreal worlds 00:03:09.395 --> 00:03:11.597 and enigmatic characters. 00:03:11.597 --> 00:03:15.287 The lack of any clear meaning makes Godot 00:03:15.287 --> 00:03:17.547 endlessly open to interpretation. 00:03:17.547 --> 00:03:20.767 Critics have offered countless readings of the play, 00:03:20.767 --> 00:03:24.387 resulting in a cycle of ambiguity and speculation 00:03:24.387 --> 00:03:27.257 that mirrors the plot of the drama itself. 00:03:27.257 --> 00:03:30.727 It's been read as an allegory of the Cold War, 00:03:30.727 --> 00:03:35.447 the French Resistance, and Britain’s colonization of Ireland. 00:03:35.447 --> 00:03:38.317 The dynamic of the two protagonists has 00:03:38.317 --> 00:03:40.467 also sparked intense debate. 00:03:40.467 --> 00:03:43.307 They’ve been read as survivors of the apocalypse, 00:03:43.307 --> 00:03:45.817 an aging couple, two impotent friends, 00:03:45.817 --> 00:03:50.657 and even as personifications of Freud’s ego and id. 00:03:50.657 --> 00:03:53.707 Famously, Beckett said the only thing he could 00:03:53.707 --> 00:03:56.707 be sure of was that Vladimir and Estragon 00:03:56.707 --> 00:03:59.667 were "wearing bowler hats." 00:03:59.667 --> 00:04:02.567 Like the critical speculation and maddening plot, 00:04:02.567 --> 00:04:05.227 their language often goes in circles as the two 00:04:05.235 --> 00:04:08.405 bicker and banter, lose their train of thought, 00:04:08.405 --> 00:04:11.285 and pick up right where they left off: 00:04:11.285 --> 00:04:14.335 V: We could start all over again perhaps 00:04:14.335 --> 00:04:16.475 E: That should be easy 00:04:16.475 --> 00:04:19.395 V: It’s the start that’s difficult 00:04:19.395 --> 00:04:21.815 E: You can start from anything 00:04:21.815 --> 00:04:24.285 V: Yes, but you have to decide. 00:04:24.285 --> 00:04:28.175 Beckett reminds us that just like our daily lives, 00:04:28.175 --> 00:04:31.245 the world onstage doesn’t always make sense. 00:04:31.245 --> 00:04:34.925 It can explore both reality and illusion, 00:04:34.925 --> 00:04:37.025 the familiar and the strange. 00:04:37.025 --> 00:04:40.555 And although a tidy narrative still appeals, 00:04:40.555 --> 00:04:45.575 the best theatre keeps us thinking – and waiting.