Since their first appearance in a tiny Paris theatre in 1953, Samuel Beckett’s iconic down-and- outs Vladimir and Estragon have rarely been off the stage. Nearly every evening, somewhere on the globe, they show up for their dubious appointment with a savior named Godot who never comes, filling time with games and musing aphoristically on existence. Hilarious and heartbreaking, Waiting for Godot is the modern theatre’s indispensable document of rootlessness, uncertainty, and perpetually postponed deliverance. Godot will be directed by Arin Arbus (Resident Director, TFANA) whose critically acclaimed productions for the company include her OBIE Award-winning staging of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth. This production will reunite actors Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks, who last worked together for TFANA in Ionesco’s The Killer, directed by Darko Tresnjak in 2014.
Shamblin’ Shannon and Blazing Sparks: the powerhouse duo we’ve waited decades to see sharing the spotlight as Beckett’s tramps, threadbare in trousers and spirit. In what might be a post-apocalyptic neverwhere, they dawdle and quarrel and peevishly await one Godot (O’God?), who will never arrive. Estragon wrestles with his painful boot, trying to free it from his smelly foot; Vladimir periodically races offstage to urinate (bad kidneys). Sound designer Palmer Hefferan creates thin piddling in a shallow metal receptacle. I saw a hubcap, since director Arin Arbus and scenic designer Riccardo Hernández translate the “country road” stage direction into a U.S. highway; the two men stalk up and down asphalt and across yellow median stripes looking for all the world like Depression-era hobos who lost their bindles at dice.
Even as they finally resolve to “go,” in this Godot—as in every Godot—Shannon and Sparks remain stuck in the perennial purgatory that follows the utterance of that final line. However, this production comes with the cushion of comforting companionship its two lead actors skillfully conjure and convey. It’s a rare production that you want to carry on waiting for Godot with Didi and Gogo, but this is one.
1956 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1957 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1971 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
1981 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
1988 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2005 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2006 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2009 | Broadway |
Roundabout Revival Broadway |
2010 | West End |
Return Engagement [West End] West End |
2013 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2015 | Off-Broadway |
Gare St Lazare Ireland and Dublin Theatre Festival Production Off-Broadway |
2017 | West End |
Arts Theatre Revival West End |
2021 | Off-Broadway |
TFANA's Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
2023 | Off-Broadway |
Theatre for a New Audience Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
West End |
West End |
|
2025 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play | Paul Sparks |
Videos