No more waiting around as 'Godot' opens tomorrow night

Why are we here? With the aid of a tree, five males and the art of conversation, "Waiting for Godot" attempts to pose such a question and ellicit a response from its viewers. The play, written by Samuel Beckett and directed by junior Mia Wilson, will run at Theatre II tomorrow through Saturday.

Irish playwright Beckett was born in Dublin in 1906, according to www.literature-awards.com. After graduating from Trinity College, he eventually moved to France, where he settled to the task of playwrighting. By 1945, Beckett began composing scripts in French, the Web site states. "Waiting for Godot," which first was published in 1952, originally was written in French, under the title "En Attendant Godot," according to www.Encycolpedia4u.com.

Beckett published an English translation of the existentialist play in 1955, the Website states. In 1969, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, according to www.literature-awards.com.

Wilson said the play is "one of the most brilliant pieces of dramatic literature [she's] ever encountered."

The play is suspended in time and space, lacking any variables that would suggest a setting, other than a solitary tree, according to cast member Dan Cullen, a senior. The play is built around the actions — or inaction, rather — of four characters, who all are presumed to be males, according to www.samuel-beckett.net. Two vagabonds, Estragon (also known as "Gogo") and Vladimir (or "Didi"), played by junior Arianne Warner and sophomore Dean Camp, "talk themselves in circles" while waiting for a mysterious man named Godot, Wilson said.

The pair has no idea why they are waiting for Godot, or who he is exactly, or if he even exists — but they still wait. A messenger boy, played by freshman Mohcine Dehbi, conveys news regarding Godot to Gogo and Didi, and is the only character who seems to have ever met Godot, according to Wilson.
While the tramps wait, a slave and his master, Lucky (Cullen) and Pozzo (junior Kristen Long) appear.

Lucky is "representative of the innocence in the world," and holds a reputation as one of the most intelligent characters onstage, according to Cullen. Pozzo is "a very unfulfilled person" filled with "feelings of dejection and disappointment," which "manifests itself into hatred," and which is exemplified by scenes where Pozzo physically whips Lucky, Long said.

Long enjoys the role of Pozzo because "absurdist theater is very freeing, with lots of creative control over the characters," she said.

The play also varies from the original because it takes place in an over-industrialized setting — represented by the use of sticks, chicken wire and garbage in the set, Cullen said. This accentuates the feeling of self-oppression and is a "perfect example of what people put themselves through in this setting to get to the afterlife," Wilson said. Wilson hopes the audience will question why it wakes up in the morning on a personal level, she said.

"I read ("Waiting for Godot") in high school, and there's not much action, but what's said and [its ideas] are interesting," sophomore Emily Barlow said. "I'd like to see if they did anything with all the underlying symbolism."

For those ready to challenge what they believe, reconsider their existence and come to their own conclusions, "Waiting for Godot" plays for $3 at Theatre II from Feb. 3 to 7 at 8 p.m., with an additional show at 12 a.m. Feb. 6.