Waiting For Godot

Written by Samuel Beckett

An Absurdist comedy of existential despair…

“Why are we here, that is the question? And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come… We are not saints, but we have kept our appointment.”

Samuel Beckett’s tramps Vladimir and Estragon are lost in time and space. Their shoes are falling apart, they’ve only got turnips and carrots to eat and lately, unknown attackers have been beating up Estragon on a nightly basis.
They abuse, amuse and console each other while they wait for a man whose arrival promises both a job and perhaps some kind of salvation.
This landmark play is a masterpiece of comic wordplay, but what lies beneath is a lyrical layer of exquisite prose that explores humankind’s search for meaning.

“Something that will securely lodge in the corner of your mind for as long as you live.” Sunday Times, London

Curriculum

Extension 1 Elective 2: Worlds of Upheaval

Dates & Times

Wed 29 May: 7pm
Thurs 30 May: 10am & 7pm
Friday 31 May: 10am
Sat 1 June: 7pm

Duration

150 minutes (includes 20 minute interval & Live Q&A)

Price

$25 Per Student + Booking Fee. $20 Per Student For Groups Over 15. Teachers Free

Transport

Parking available ($10 with ACA validation) and Loading dock Bus drop off area. Site fully accessible.

Cast

Mark Barry (Vladimir), Ciarán O’Riordan (Estragon), Arkia Ashraf (Pozzo), Michael Jones (Lucky), Charlotte Edwards (Boy)

Director

Adam Cook

Adam Cook : Head of Acting at Actors Centre Australia and the ACA Company Artistic Director.

Adam is a graduate of the NIDA Directors Course. He has directed over 160 productions across Australia, London, Canada and the United States. He was Artistic Director of the State Theatre Company of South Australia for the years 2005-2012, the longest tenure in the company’s 40-year history. He is currently Head of Acting at Actors Centre Australia.

He has created works for the Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane Festivals, Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir, Ensemble, Sydney Opera House Trust, NIDA, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, La Boite, Q Theatre, Florida Grand Opera, Opera de Montreal, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Outhouse Theatre, Opera Australia, Griffin, Bell Shakespeare, Sport for Jove, OzOpera, Playbox, Festival of the Dreaming, WAAPA, QUT, Marian Street, Strange Duck, Windmill Performing Arts, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, City of London Festival, the Barbican International Theatre Event (BITE).

He also has a number of writing credits for the theatre to his name, including stage adaptations of Patrick White’s The Aunt’s Story for Belvoir/Melbourne Theatre Company/Melbourne International Festival and Brisbane Festival, Songs from the Yellow Bedroom, an adaptation of the letters of Vincent Van Gogh for the Adelaide Festival and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick for Sport for Jove. Most recently he completed a new play about the William Dobell trial for the centenary of the Archibald Prize, called What’s Art Got to Do with It?

A Note From the Artistic Director

Waiting for Godot was first performed in Paris in 1953 and had its English language premiere in London two years later. In a theatrical revolution for the time, Beckett broke with convention and created a truly unique work that defied the accepted rules of dramatic structure. The play made him a celebrity and a small fortune. He was nearly fifty years old and had spent the better part of a quarter of a century trying to make a living as a professional writer. He knew a lot about waiting.
It’s a play I have lived with and loved for close to fifty years. Beckett made a huge impact on me when I was a fledgling writer in my mid-teens, when the uncompromising astringency of his writing blew my mind, as did the indelible iconography at work in his stagecraft. I am very excited to create this new production for our schools audiences with a wonderful quartet of young graduates.

-Adam Cook

Content Warnings

TBC