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Waiting for Godot review: ‘I defy anyone not to see themselves on this stage’

Superb acting carries this re-staging of the mind-bending classic by Samuel Beckett

September 26, 2024 15:52
Waiting for Godot_Ben Whishaw, Lucian Msamati. Tom Edden and Jonathan Slinger _Photo Marc Brenner
The cast of Waiting for Godot, now showing at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, star in this re-staging of the classic Samuel Beckett play. (Photo: Marc Brenner)
1 min read

Waiting For Godot

Theatre Royal, Haymarket | ★★★★✩

When 15 years ago Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart teamed up to play Estragon and Vladimir on this very stage, it was like watching two old hams attempting to return day after day to the glory of their acting careers. Even the design of a crumbling theatre with its decrepit lighting rigs suggested that Samuel Beckett’s absurd duo were living in a landscape particular to their past instead of this “bitch of an Earth” where the rest of us live. There was no doubt about their identity.

Not so in this new production directed by James Macdonald. As played by Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati it might be less obvious what and who their Estragon and Vladimir used to be, but the result is that they are more everyman; more us.

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Theatre