Waiting for Godot - Malvern Theatres (From Worcester News)

Waiting for Godot - Malvern Theatres

6:43pm Wednesday 11th March 2009

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THEATRE, we are told, has not been the same since Waiting for Godot.

Truth be told life is little different after seeing Samuel Beckett’s absurdist work of art.

Especially when it stars Sir Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, Simon Callow and Ronald Pickup. A rare treat.

For a play that was panned when it opened back in 1953, Godot holds an impressive power over modern audiences. It is a bizarre and bleak piece, simultaneously uplifting.

Our two tramps are forever waiting for Godot, whatever or whoever he may be.

But Godot never shows leaving philosophical Vladimir (Stewart) and dozy Estragon (McKellan) to pass the time and avoid loneliness at all costs.

They bicker, embrace, contemplate suicide and swap hats, look up at the sky and anticipate nightfall, but it is impossible to say what Waiting for Godot is about.

There are moments that leave you pondering religion, companionship, human nature and happiness, not to mention the meaning of life. Then again it is also nonsense.

The plays success must lie with that ability to draw out an individual response; the themes are universal, but your reaction is wholly personal.

On top of all that intensity it is also very funny, from subtle glances through to the full-on slap stick.

After seeing this production it is hard to think of a better partnership that McKellen and Stewart.

One moment they clown around, the next they mutter 'nothing to be done' and the auditorium falls silent.

Callow was a flamboyant, larger-than-life Pozzo to Pickup's melancolny bag carrier Lucky. The latter's first act monologue - an impressive, if slightly bewildering, 700-word long sentence - received raucous applause.

The apocalyptic set, with grey concrete and broken floorboards, added gravitas. The ruined theatre boxes were a nice touch. All the world's a stage, the designer seems to say.

The lighting was superb too. The sound effects were less impressive but took little away from what was an almighty evening in the presence of legends.

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