1 00:00:07,064 --> 00:00:09,094 A shabby man named Estragon, 2 00:00:09,094 --> 00:00:12,924 sits near a tree at dusk and struggles to remove his boot. 3 00:00:12,924 --> 00:00:14,804 He’s soon joined by his friend Vladimir, 4 00:00:14,804 --> 00:00:17,104 who reminds his anxious companion that 5 00:00:17,104 --> 00:00:20,564 they must wait here for someone called Godot. 6 00:00:20,564 --> 00:00:23,964 So begins a vexing cycle in which the two debate 7 00:00:23,964 --> 00:00:26,484 when Godot will come, why they’re waiting, 8 00:00:26,484 --> 00:00:29,794 and whether they’re even at the right tree. 9 00:00:29,794 --> 00:00:32,994 From here, Waiting for Godot only gets stranger - 10 00:00:32,994 --> 00:00:35,504 but it’s considered a play that changed 11 00:00:35,504 --> 00:00:37,634 the face of modern drama. 12 00:00:37,634 --> 00:00:41,963 Written by Samuel Beckett between 1949 and 1955, 13 00:00:41,963 --> 00:00:45,623 it offers a simple but stirring question - 14 00:00:45,623 --> 00:00:49,873 what should the characters do? 15 00:00:49,873 --> 00:00:52,963 Estragon: Don’t let's do anything. It's safer. 16 00:00:52,963 --> 00:00:56,663 Vladimir: Let’s wait and see what he says. 17 00:00:56,663 --> 00:00:57,993 Estragon: Who? 18 00:00:57,993 --> 00:00:59,663 Vladimir: Godot. 19 00:00:59,663 --> 00:01:01,693 Estragon: Good idea. 20 00:01:01,693 --> 00:01:04,223 Such cryptic dialogue and circular reasoning are 21 00:01:04,223 --> 00:01:07,163 key features of the Theatre of the Absurd, 22 00:01:07,163 --> 00:01:10,413 a movement which emerged after the Second World War 23 00:01:10,413 --> 00:01:12,263 and found artists struggling 24 00:01:12,263 --> 00:01:15,183 to find meaning in devastation. 25 00:01:15,183 --> 00:01:19,343 The absurdists deconstructed plot, character and language 26 00:01:19,343 --> 00:01:21,853 to question their meaning and share 27 00:01:21,853 --> 00:01:25,633 their profound uncertainty on stage. 28 00:01:25,633 --> 00:01:27,613 While this may sound grim, 29 00:01:27,613 --> 00:01:30,793 the absurd blends its hopelessness with humor. 30 00:01:30,793 --> 00:01:33,373 This is reflected in Beckett’s unique approach 31 00:01:33,373 --> 00:01:35,493 to genre in Waiting for Godot, 32 00:01:35,493 --> 00:01:39,633 which he branded “a tragicomedy in two acts." 33 00:01:39,633 --> 00:01:42,083 Tragically, the characters are locked in an 34 00:01:42,083 --> 00:01:45,203 existential conundrum: they wait in vain 35 00:01:45,203 --> 00:01:47,963 for an unknown figure to give them a sense of purpose, 36 00:01:47,963 --> 00:01:49,863 but their only sense of purpose 37 00:01:49,863 --> 00:01:52,583 comes from the act of waiting, 38 00:01:52,583 --> 00:01:55,263 While they wait, they sink into boredom, 39 00:01:55,263 --> 00:02:00,253 express religious dread and contemplate suicide. 40 00:02:00,253 --> 00:02:03,683 But comically, there is a jagged humor to their predicament, 41 00:02:03,683 --> 00:02:06,513 which comes across in their language and movements. 42 00:02:06,513 --> 00:02:09,733 Their interactions are filled with bizarre wordplay, 43 00:02:09,733 --> 00:02:11,613 repetition and double entendres, 44 00:02:11,613 --> 00:02:14,723 as well as physical clowning, singing and dancing, 45 00:02:14,725 --> 00:02:17,325 and frantically swapping their hats. 46 00:02:17,325 --> 00:02:19,955 It’s often unclear whether the audience is supposed to 47 00:02:19,955 --> 00:02:22,835 laugh or cry - or whether Beckett saw 48 00:02:22,835 --> 00:02:25,855 any difference between the two. 49 00:02:25,855 --> 00:02:27,915 Born in Dublin, Beckett studied English, 50 00:02:27,915 --> 00:02:30,895 French and Italian before moving to Paris, 51 00:02:30,895 --> 00:02:33,605 where he spent most of his life writing theatre, 52 00:02:33,605 --> 00:02:35,705 poetry and prose. 53 00:02:35,705 --> 00:02:38,575 While Beckett had a lifelong love of language, 54 00:02:38,575 --> 00:02:42,575 he also made space for silence by incorporating gaps, 55 00:02:42,575 --> 00:02:46,575 pauses and moments of emptiness into his work. 56 00:02:46,575 --> 00:02:50,265 This was a key feature of his trademark 57 00:02:50,265 --> 00:02:53,155 uneven tempo and black humor, 58 00:02:53,155 --> 00:02:56,405 which became popular throughout the Theatre of the Absurd. 59 00:02:56,405 --> 00:02:58,885 He also cultivated a mysterious persona, 60 00:02:58,885 --> 00:03:02,235 and refused to confirm or deny any speculations 61 00:03:02,235 --> 00:03:04,585 about the meaning of his work. 62 00:03:04,585 --> 00:03:06,175 This kept audiences guessing, 63 00:03:06,175 --> 00:03:09,395 increasing their fascination with his surreal worlds 64 00:03:09,395 --> 00:03:12,427 and enigmatic characters. 65 00:03:12,427 --> 00:03:15,287 The lack of any clear meaning makes Godot 66 00:03:15,287 --> 00:03:17,547 endlessly open to interpretation. 67 00:03:17,547 --> 00:03:20,767 Critics have offered countless readings of the play, 68 00:03:20,767 --> 00:03:24,387 resulting in a cycle of ambiguity and speculation 69 00:03:24,387 --> 00:03:27,627 that mirrors the plot of the drama itself. 70 00:03:27,627 --> 00:03:30,727 It's been read as an allegory of the Cold War, 71 00:03:30,727 --> 00:03:33,217 the French Resistance, 72 00:03:33,217 --> 00:03:36,227 and Britain’s colonization of Ireland. 73 00:03:36,227 --> 00:03:38,317 The dynamic of the two protagonists has 74 00:03:38,317 --> 00:03:40,467 also sparked intense debate. 75 00:03:40,467 --> 00:03:43,307 They’ve been read as survivors of the apocalypse, 76 00:03:43,307 --> 00:03:45,817 an aging couple, two impotent friends, 77 00:03:45,817 --> 00:03:51,537 and even as personifications of Freud’s ego and id. 78 00:03:51,537 --> 00:03:53,707 Famously, Beckett said the only thing he could 79 00:03:53,707 --> 00:03:56,707 be sure of was that Vladimir and Estragon 80 00:03:56,707 --> 00:03:59,667 were "wearing bowler hats." 81 00:03:59,667 --> 00:04:02,567 Like the critical speculation and maddening plot, 82 00:04:02,567 --> 00:04:05,227 their language often goes in circles as the two 83 00:04:05,235 --> 00:04:08,405 bicker and banter, lose their train of thought, 84 00:04:08,405 --> 00:04:11,285 and pick up right where they left off: 85 00:04:11,285 --> 00:04:14,335 Vladimir: We could start all over again perhaps 86 00:04:14,335 --> 00:04:16,475 Estragon: That should be easy 87 00:04:16,475 --> 00:04:19,395 Vladimir: It’s the start that’s difficult 88 00:04:19,395 --> 00:04:21,815 Estragon: You can start from anything 89 00:04:21,815 --> 00:04:24,285 Vladimir: Yes, but you have to decide. 90 00:04:24,285 --> 00:04:28,175 Beckett reminds us that just like our daily lives, 91 00:04:28,175 --> 00:04:31,245 the world onstage doesn’t always make sense. 92 00:04:31,245 --> 00:04:34,925 It can explore both reality and illusion, 93 00:04:34,925 --> 00:04:37,025 the familiar and the strange. 94 00:04:37,025 --> 00:04:40,555 And although a tidy narrative still appeals, 95 00:04:40,555 --> 00:04:45,575 the best theatre keeps us thinking – and waiting.