Godot at Waterloo East Theatre

Godot by Steve Gough, from 30 Oct to 17 Nov 2013 at Waterloo East Theatre, a 100 to 150 capacity fringe theatre in south east London.

The play is directed by Gill Taylor and the cast includes Nicolaus Mackie and Charlie Syer.

Sixty years ago Samuel Beckett wrote his absurdist theatre classic, 'Waiting for Godot.' Since then, audiences around the world must have wondered what exactly Godot was up to all the time Vladimir and Estragon were waiting for him.

Godot, poses the question - what was Godot actually doing with himself for all that time? Like its namesake, the play features two characters inhabiting an unpopulated landscape, though in this instance it is a large, windowless office in (possibly) an office block in (possibly) an unnamed city.

One of the characters is self-evidently the Godot for whom Vladamir and Estragon wait. The other character is his clerk, Snook, a seemingly loyal and hard-working servant, but whose main purpose in life, as the audience will discover, seems to be to prevent his master from ever leaving this office room and making contact with his erstwhile companions. One character common to both plays is the boy, sent as a messenger by Godot. Whipped in the Becket play, he is treated equally disdainfully by Snook, though his descriptions of Vladamir and Estragon, cause deep suffering to the generous-hearted but hopelessly ineffectual Godot.