Friday, November 22

Tag: Waiting For Godot

Waiting for Godot – Theatre Royal Haymarket
London

Waiting for Godot – Theatre Royal Haymarket

Well, these are two very well-spoken "tramps". A wired Didi (Ben Whishaw) jolts and flourishes across the space, amidst a more weighted, stony Gogo (Lucian Msamati). The two are equally as confounded as each other, torn between wavering uncertainty and resignation to the fact. As the title of the play reveals, they are waiting for Godot. In Beckett's classic, we are not entirely sure who Godot is or why he is being waited for, and neither, as it seems, are the characters.  Whishaw and Msamati play their respective characters so beautifully. It is like watching a dance - their responsivity and spontaneity is glorious, and they find musicality in the repetition. This much studied play has plenty of meat to chew on. The real juiciness of it, as brought out by Whishaw and Msamati ...
Beckett: Unbound 2024 – The Tung Auditorium
North West

Beckett: Unbound 2024 – The Tung Auditorium

The Beckett: Unbound 2024 Festival’s music curation responds to the theatre and dance programme via six contemporary works, featuring three world-première commissions and two UK / France premières. Composer Barry Guy’s Quindecim for baroque violin (Maya Homburger) and double bass (Guy) is a response to Swiss architect and artist Max Bill’s ‘Fifteen Variations on a Single Theme’ exploring the artist’s idea that ‘once the basic theme has been chosen - whether it be simple or complex - an infinite number of different developments can be evolved according to individual inclination and temperament’. The work incorporates four Beckett texts (Thither, 10 Mirlitonnades, The Downs, One Dead of Night) into its highly intricate ‘molten architecture’. Guy’s work for solo cello and electronics ‘S...