Full Cast Set For WAITING FOR GODOT at Theatre Royal Haymarket

Rehearsals have started for the new production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, directed by James Macdonald, starring Lucian Msamati (Game of Thrones, Amadeus)as Estragon and Ben Whishaw (James Bond, Paddington) as Vladimir with Tom Edden (Crazy For You, Cyrano De Bergerac) as Lucky and Jonathan Slinger (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, title roles in Richard II and Richard III in RSC Histories) as Pozzo. They will be joined by Luca Fone, Alexander Joseph and Ellis Pang sharing the role of The Boy and Dean Graham (Understudy Vladimir and Lucky) and David Lee-Jones (Understudy Estragon and Pozzo).

Waiting for Godot will play a limited run at Theatre Royal Haymarket from 13 September until 14 December 2024, press night Thursday 19 September 2024.

James Macdonald, Director, said, “One of the greatest and most radical plays ever written. Four extraordinary actors. A brilliant design for London's oldest and most beautiful playhouse. For me this is all beyond exciting.”

Tickets are on sale now.  25,000 tickets across the run have been priced at £25 or less, spread throughout the house, of which 5,000 are held for under 30s and Blue Light workers.

The creative team includes Rae Smith (Set and Costume Design), Bruno Poet (Lighting Design), Ian Dickinson and Niamh Gaffney for Autograph (Sound Design), Campbell Young Associates (Hair and Make-up Design), Amy Ball (Casting CDG), Hazel Holder (Voice Coach), Max Harrison (Assistant Director) and Kate West (Production Manager).

Didi and Gogo wait by a tree for a man named Godot. They don’t know who he is, why they are meeting or what time he is coming – only that something incredible could happen when he does…

“Let us do something, while we have the chance… at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it before it is too late!” 

Don’t miss the play that changed the rules. Waiting for Godot opens at the historic Theatre Royal Haymarket for a strictly limited run from September 2024.

 Biographies

Lucian Msamati plays Estragon. Theatre credits include Master Harold and the Boys, Amadeus, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (National Theatre), A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes (The Tricycle), Othello (RSC), Little Revolution (Almeida Theatre), The Amen Corner (National Theatre), If You Don't Let us Dream We Won't Let You A Sleep, Belong (Royal Court),Comedy of Errors (National Theatre), Clybourne Park (Royal Court/West End), Ruined (Almeida Theatre), Death and The Kings Horsman (National Theatre), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Lyric Hammersmith), 1807- The First Act (Shakespeare’s Globe), Pericles (RSC), The Overwhelming (National Theatre), Walk Hard, Fabulation, Gem Of The Ocean(The Tricycle), Who Killed Mr Drum (Riverside), President of An Empty Room (National Theatre), Twelfth Night (Sheffield Crucible), Mourning Becomes Electra (National Theatre), I.D. (Almeida Theatre), Romeo & Juliet (The Dancehouse, Manchester), The Taming of the Shrew (Bath Shakespeare Festival), Born African (Arthur Seaton Theatre, New York), Twelfth Night (Neuss Globe Theatre, Germany), Fade to Black (Harare International Festival of Arts), Eternal Peace Asylum (American Repertory Theatre), Loot, Urfaust (Reps Theatre), Rocky Horror Picture Show (Seven Arts Theatre) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (NTO Zimbabwe). 

Television credits include  Gangs of London (2 Seasons), Chemistry of Death, His Dark Materials, Black Earth Rising, Kiri, Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams, Taboo, George Gently,Luther, Game of Thrones, Death in Paradise, Richard III, No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, Dr Who, Ashes To Ashes, Spooks, Just Like Ronaldinho, Ultimate Force, Too Close for Comfort, The Knock and Heads and Tales. Film credits include Conclave, Breaking Point, The Good Liar, The Seekers, The International, Coffin, Legend of the Sky, Kingdom, Dr Juju and Lumumba. Radio credits include: An Elegy For Easterly, Mugabe: God’s President, The Jero Plays, The Homecoming, Seventh Street and Alchemy and Colours.

Lucian is a founder member of Zimbabwe's Over the Edge theatre company and former Artistic Director of Tiata Fahodzi.

Ben Whishaw plays Vladimir. Ben is a multi award-winning British actor. His notable film credits include the role of Q in Skyfall, Spectre and No Time To Die; the voice of Paddington in Paddington and Paddington 2;  Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer; Jane Campion’s Bright Star; Cloud Atlas; Tom Hooper’s multi award-winning The Danish Girl; The Lobster; in the role of Mr. Banks in Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns; Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History Of David Copperfield; Alice Englert's Bad Behaviour with Jennifer Connelly; and Passages with Franz Rogowski and Adèle Exarchopoulos. We last saw Ben in Sarah Polley’s Women Talking, alongside Claire Foy and Frances McDormand, for which he was nominated for a Satellite Award, a Hollywood Critics Association Film Award and longlisted for a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor.

It has been announced that he will reprise his role as the voice of the titular bear in Paddington In Peru, which will be released in the UK 8th November. He will star in Limonov, The Ballad Of Eddie as Eduard Limonov. He starred in the short film, Good Boy, the directorial debut of Tom Stuart with the support of Gia Coppola, which was shortlisted for Best Live Action Short Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

Ben’s TV credits include his role as Norman Scott in the mini-series A Very English Scandal opposite Hugh Grant. This performance saw Ben recognised with a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries, or Motion Picture Made for Television, along with a Primetime Emmy Award and a BAFTA. Criminal Justice, The Hour, Fargo and a BAFTA award-winning performance in The Hollow Crown. He starred in the lead role of This Is Going To Hurt, the series adaptation of Adam Kay’s bestselling novel, for which he won Leading Actor in the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards along with Outstanding Performance in a New Series at the 2022 Gotham Awards and winning in the Best Actor category at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards. Ben was nominated for numerous awards as well including Best Actor by the TV Choice Awards; a Critic’s Choice Awards for Best Actor In A Limited Series or Movie Made For Television and a Gold Derby Award for Limited / Movie Actor.

He has just wrapped filming Black Doves (Netflix) and is starring alongside Keira Knightley and Sarah Lancashire.

Ben’s theatre credits have included Mojo (Harold Pinter Theatre), Peter And Alice (Noël Coward), Some Trace Of Her and The Seagull (National Theatre), Leaves Of Glass (Soho Theatre), Hamlet (Old Vic), Julius Caesar (The Bridge Theatre) and The Crucible (on Broadway). He was most recently seen in Bluets (Royal Court Theatre) with Emma D’Arcy and Kayla Meikle.

Tom Edden plays Lucky. Theatre credits include:  The Merry Widow (Glyndebourne), Crazy For You (West End/Chichester Festival), Cyrano de Bergerac, The Pinter Season and Doctor Faustus (West End/Jamie Lloyd Company); Matilda (West End/RSC ), The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui (Donmar), Amadeus (National Theatre), Our Town (Regents Park Theatre), Measure for Measure (Young Vic); Peter Pan Goes Wrong (West End, Apollo),  Les Miserables (West End, Queens Theatre), A Little Hotel on the Side (Theatre Royal Bath), Hamlet, Betrayal & Summer Lightning (Royal Theatre Northampton), Oliver! (Sheffield Crucible (UK Theatre award nominee Best Actor in a musical) and  One Man Two Guvnors (National Theatre, West End, Broadway; (Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role and nominated for a Tony and Critic’s Circle Award). Television credits include:  Starstruck, Singapore Grip, Upstart Crow, The Scandalous Lady W, Doctor Who, Stuart a Life Backwards, Spartans, The Wolf Man. Film credits include: Star Wars Episode VII- The Force Awakens, Mr Turner and Cinderella.

Jonathan Slinger plays Pozzo. Recent screen credits include a series regular in Alex Rider (Amazon), all 3 episodes of the critically acclaimed Salisbury Poisonings, as well as Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You (BBC), The Sixth Commandment (BBC) and A Gentleman in Moscow (Paramount Plus). Before the pandemic, Jonathan was starring in the West End transfer of the Olivier Award winning production City of Angels, between lockdowns he starred in the critically acclaimed run of Crave at Chichester Festival Theatre and in David Mamet’s Oleanna at the Arts Theatre in the West End, to great critical acclaim. Last year he appeared in a guest role on Shadow and Bone for Netflix, and later that year starred as Eddie Carbone in A View From The Bridge, a co-production with Headlong, Octagon Theatre Bolton and Rose Theatre.  He is currently filming a regular role inHaven (Amazon).

James Macdonald, Director. James was an Associate and Deputy Director at the Royal Court for 14 years and was also a NESTA fellow from 2003 to 2006. For the Royal Court: Glass.Kill.Imp.Bluebeard, One For Sorrow, The Children (& MTC/Broadway), Escaped Alone (& BAM, NYC), The Wolf From The Door, Circle Mirror Transformation, Love & Information (& NYTW), c*ck(& Duke, NYC), Drunk Enough To Say I Love You (& Public, NYC), Dying City (& Lincoln Center, NYC), Fewer Emergencies, Lucky Dog, Blood, Blasted, 4.48 Psychosis (& St Anne’s Warehouse, NYC/US & European tours), Hard Fruit, Real Classy Affair, Cleansed, Bailegangaire, Harry & Me, Simpatico, Peaches, Thyestes, Hammett’s Apprentice, The Terrible Voice Of Satan, Putting Two and Two Together.
 
Other theatre includes: Infinite Life (National Theatre) The Cherry Orchard (Yard Theatre); Night Of The Iguana, John, Dido Queen Of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other, Exiles (National); Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Changing Room (West End); The Tempest, Roberto Zucco (RSC); Sea Creatures, Wild,And No More Shall We Part, #Aiww - The Arrest Of Ai Weiwei (Hampstead); The Father (Theatre Royal, Bath/Tricycle/West End); Bakkhai, A Delicate Balance, Judgment Day, The Triumph Of Love (Almeida); A Doll’s House Part 2, The Way Of The World, Roots (Donmar); The Chinese Room (Williamstown Festival); Cloud Nine (Atlantic, NYC); a number (NYTW); King Lear, The Book Of Grace (Public, NYC); Top Girls (MTC/Broadway); John Gabriel Borkman (Abbey, Dublin/BAM, NYC); Troilus Und Cressida, Die Kopien (Schaubuehne, Berlin); 4.48 Psychose (Burgtheater, Vienna); Love’s Labour’s Lost, Richard Ii (Royal Exchange, Manchester); The Rivals (Nottingham Playhouse); The Crackwalker (Gate); The Seagull (Crucible, Sheffield); Miss Julie (Oldham Coliseum); Juno & The Paycock, Ice Cream/Hot Fudge, Romeo & Juliet, Fool For Love, Savage/Love, Master Harold & The Boys (Contact, Manchester); Prem (BAC/Soho Poly). Opera includes: A Ring A Lamp A Thing (Linbury); Eugene Onegin, Rigoletto (Welsh National Opera); Die Zauberflöte (Garsington); Wolf Club Village, Night Banquet (Almeida Opera); Oedipus Rex, Survivor From Warsaw (Royal Exchange, Manchester/Hallé); Lives Of The Great Poisoners (Second Stride).

Film includes: A Number (HBO/BBC).

To post a comment, you must register and login.