Waiting for Godot – Arches Lane Theatre

In a place where time seems to have lost meaning, where memory plays games with the mind, two men wait endlessly under a barren tree. They talk, they quarrel, they make up, they are bored, but they dare not leave.

This week, a new production of Samuel Beckett’s most popular play takes to the stage. Directed by Leo Bacica, it has Rich Allen playing Vladimir and Steve Broad as Estragon. Together, the men wait for the mysterious, unseen Godot.

Between uncomfortable boots, pockets full of turnip, and kidney trouble, the two men kill their time talking about the mundane and the spiritual, the philosophical and the nostalgic. The monotony of their wait is broken by the rather disruptive entrance of Pozzo and his servant Lucky.

Lucky has a rope tied around him, which is controlled by his master. But as the play progresses, it seems to be Pozzo who is tied to Lucky in his physical and emotional dependence. Similar bonds tie Vladimir and Estragon to each other too. They are bound together by decades of friendship and their promise to meet Godot. They repeatedly contemplate leaving, but they don’t. They consider walking away from each other and living separate lives, but they don’t. No one leaves, nothing happens, and time seems to stretch and distort.

While the play itself is brilliant, the performances left much to be desired. There seemed to be little chemistry between the two lead actors, and the dialogue delivery was often stilted. While one is prepared for some silence and long pauses with this play, there was a tedium in the pace that was difficult to look past.

Lucky’s monologue – performed at his master’s command of “Think” – brought life into the proceedings. Mark Muravjov, who plays the character, put much-needed energy (and rhythm) into this small bit that gave him the space to shine. Pozzo, played by Kunal Narwani, was larger than life in Act I and more nuanced in Act II.

The lead pair did have their good moments in the latter part of the play, when they reminisced over their shared past, and talked about the voices of the dead – “they whisper, they rustle, they murmur, they rustle”, to paraphrase. It would have been good to see more of that rapport in the rest of the play too.

Waiting for Godot runs until 7th June at Arches Lane Theatre with tickets available at https://www.archeslanetheatre.com/

Reviewer: Savitha Venugopal

Reviewed: 2nd June 2026

North West End UK Rating: