“Godot” arrives at Vassar for his 60th anniversary

Gülfem Demiray Assistant Arts Editor

A boy rushes into the scene and timidly utters the words, “Mr. Godot told me to tell you he won’t come this evening but surely tomorrow.”

To Vladimir’s mental anguish and Estragon’s despair, Mr. Godot never arrives on the stage, but his mere nominality has brought incredible fame to the Irish writer, poet and winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize for Literature Samuel Beckett, whose works incorporate universal themes in a peculiar, minimalist style.

Sixty years after the play’s premiere in a tiny theater in Paris, Unbound is presenting “Waiting for Godot” on Friday, May 2, Sunday, May 4, and Monday, May 5, at 7 p.m. in the Outdoor Amphitheater, located in the field behind Sanders Classroom. The play is Unbound’s final production of the year. Famously summarized as “a play in which nothing happens twice” by the Irish literary critic Vivien Mercier, “Waiting for Godot” deals with issues such as death, the meaning of human existence and God’s possible place within it. The play centers around two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, as they wait on a country road by a tree for two days and anticipate Godot’s arrival.

Directed by Michael Hirsch ’11 and Andréa Banks ’11, Unbound’s production of the play will present an incomprehensible world through black humor that touches upon delicate religious, philosophical, classical, psychoanalytical and wartime allusions.

Since the play consists mostly of dialogue, the cast worked on character building before they started studying the text. Jesse Levistky ’10, whose character stays mute for most of the play, said he particularly liked these improvisational character building exercises because they taught him to stay silent on stage for long periods of time.

“Godot” was the first time that either Hirsch or Banks directed a play. Hirsch, who has been involved in theater all his life, admitted that he was initially intimidated by the directing process.

“Luckily, I have had excellent superiors, and I quickly learned so many things from them,” he said.

Hirsch and Banks had difficulties when the two actors originally cast in the lead roles left. It was hard for the directors and the cast to keep up with production until new actors were found. Banks, who thinks the new actors fit their characters perfectly, said, “It was a time of panic, but I think it’s fine now.”

Hirsch agreed with Banks. “The dynamic of the group is a lot better with this new cast,” he said. “They have a great chemistry between each other.”
The cast was also surprised by how quickly the show came together. “Starting from scratch at a much later date, the rate we progressed is incredibly high even if we’re not as complete as other shows would be,” said Levitsky.

In a departure from the original play, Hirsch and Banks’ production includes female actresses, including Allison Douglass ’11, who portrays Estragon. Douglass said that it wasn’t especially hard for her to get into a male persona, since each of the actors have had to work hard to portray their respective characters. Hirsch thinks that making Estragon female puts a twist on the play’s most challenging character. But “Beckett would not be happy with it,” he said.

Hirsch hopes that the audience will find something in the play that affects them and makes them think more about their actions. He also promises to stage a show that will entertain everyone. “You have ‘Waiting for Godot’ moments every day in your life; you just don’t know it,” he said. Who knows, maybe you’ll have your own Godot epiphany as you breathe in the open air and figure out what you’re waiting for, as you watch Vladimir and Estragon wait for their Godot under a silent tree.