UK 'GODOT' Starring Stewart and McKellen Opens at Theatre Royal Haymarket 5/6

Sean Mathias directs Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot which is his first production as Artistic Director of the 2009 Theatre Royal Haymarket Company officially opens tonight, May 6th

. Waiting for Godot toured the UK prior to its opening in London in April.

Designs are by Stephen Brimson Lewis and lighting is by Paul Pyant. Waiting for Godot is produced by the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company in partnership with Duncan C. Weldon Productions Ltd. Further casting for Waiting for Godot and the subsequent productions in Sean Mathias' Theatre Royal Haymarket Season will be announced shortly.

Prior to the Theatre Royal Haymarket run, Waiting for Godot played Edinburgh King's Theatre (13 - 18 April) and Newcastle Theatre Royal (20 - 25 April).

Waiting for Godot began previews at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from April 30th with press night on May 6th 2009 and is booking until June 28th, 2009 for a strictly limited season.

Waiting for Godot received its world premiere at the Théâtre de Babylone in Paris in 1953. The English-language premiere in 1955, was directed by Peter Hall at the Arts Theatre. Beckett himself directed the play at the Schiller Theatre, Berlin in 1975. Born in Dublin in 1906, Samuel Beckett was an Irish writer, dramatist, critic and poet.

He wrote in both French and English and is best known for his plays including Endgame, Krapp's Last Tape and Happy Days as well as Waiting for Godot. Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.