Glorious ‘Godot’ revival worth the wait

GREAT ‘GODOT’: Patrick Stewart & Ian McKellen. Photo: Joan Marcus

WAITING FOR GODOT
Written by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Sean Mathias
Cort Theatre
138 West 48th Street
(212) 239-6200; http://www.twoplaysinrep.com/

By Scott Harrah

When Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart are starring together on Broadway, it’s an event. Watching these two venerable British veterans of theater and Hollywood doing Samuel Beckett’s 1953 classic Waiting for Godot is sheer bliss because the camaraderie and chemistry the two actors exude makes us forgot what a complicated, obtuse drama this is to many. A good portion of the audience paying premium prices to see these two legends primarily know them from the X-Men films, Lord of the Rings and Star Trek, but here we are reminded that Mr. McKellen and Mr. Stewart are at their best on the live stage. The play is performed in repertory with Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land.

Mr. Beckett’s 1953 magnum opus Waiting for Godot is a classic because one can interpret so many meanings from it. For a play that’s really about absolutely nothing, it remains a marvelous piece of metaphysical theater, and although the show was just done in 2009 with Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin, this revival is original in every sense, from the outstanding performances of the cast to Sean Mathias’ skillful direction.

Two homeless characters, Estragon (McKellen) and Vladimir (Stewart), who refer to themselves as, respectively, Gogo and Didi, stand around in a rocky wasteland on a remote road in a mythical place, waiting for someone named Godot. Both they—and we—aren’t exactly certain who Godot is, but it’s this brilliant sense of absurdist mystery that keeps us riveted to the non-action onstage. Are the two men really just lost somewhere?  Or are they in Purgatory or hell on earth? Beckett never makes it clear, and this gives the storyline the requisite suspense that makes us want to keep watching.

Gogo and Didi are essentially hobos with nothing else to do but wait for the enigmatic Godot as they eat, discuss their lives, tell jokes, and look at the tree on Stephen Brimson Lewis’ minimalist set. Gogo tries to remove his boot and utters, “Nothing can be done.” Much of the first act shows the two bantering about how nothing can be done about their situation indeed.

Beckett’s story has been described as a tragicomedy, but it’s funnier than one might think. Ian McKellen plays Gogo with more dignity than other actors have shown in previous productions.  Patrick Stewart is brilliant as Didi, the more sensible of the two during their many arguments, and he’s quite protective of his pal’s well-being. They quarrel and bicker like a married couple, but there’s no sense of romance here. Nonetheless, through their nonsensical bickering and joking, it’s apparent that the two are hopelessly dependent on each other for survival. Both are like surrealistic clowns, acting in this existential vaudeville show. As dry and cryptic as the story and characters are, the duo always manages to make us laugh.

Godot keeps failing to show up, but Pozzo (Shuler Hensley) arrives, using a rope to drag along his human slave, Lucky (Billy Crudup), a fey, disturbing creature. Why Pozzo tortures his servant is anyone’s guess, but it adds to the heightened sense of the bizarre and unexplained in Beckett’s unorthodox narrative.

Waiting for Godot has been interpreted by academics as being a political allegory about the Cold War; a Freudian tale about the futility of man’s existence; a Jungian story representing the four aspects of the soul; and, finally, a Christian fable, with the tree representing Christ and the cross. Regardless of the universal message or underlying subtext one cares to extract from the play, it remains a fascinating story of much ado about nothing, and this revival is certainly one of the best yet.

‘WAITING FOR GODOT’: Patrick Stewart & Ian McKellen. Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 27, 2013
Reviewed at  press performance on November 26, 2013