Supplied: Michael Peng

Complexity and controversy for Samuel Beckett’s Godot

Samuel Beckett’s controversial Waiting for Godot hasn’t seen the lights of a professional Edmonton theatre in 40 years. Its debut in the 1950s caused an uproar among European audiences, and some in the UK tried to ban it. But the controversy surrounding the famous play is as difficult to describe as the content itself.

The production follows two derelict companions, Estragon and Vladimir, as they pace and converse, remove bowler hats, shake them out and put them back on throughout the two-act play — all while awaiting the arrival of a certain unknown Godot. Often, one of the companions forgets what they are doing, and must be reminded by the other that they can’t leave: they’re waiting for Godot.

In the decades since its debut, critics and scholars have presented a variety of arguments about the play’s deeper meaning. Does Godot represent God? Time? Death? Or does he symbolize something all of us share: an inability to see past our own hang-ups and move on with our lives when something gets in the way?

“(Estragon and Vladimir) are on the precipice of change, of discovering something about themselves, and they just don’t want to go there,” explains director Chris Bullough. “They’re waiting for someone else to change their lives, and it’s frustrating. It’s so ridiculous and tragic because it’s true — it’s what we do. I think as a population we distract ourselves from these questions, and Beckett puts it right out there for everyone to see.”

Certain elements of the play might not seem as controversial now as they once were: the characters’ frequent urinations and the discussion about post-mortem erections seem tame in today’s media culture. But the play has retained its controversial nature by asking deeper questions about the nature of our existence on earth.

“What’s really controversial is that it forces you to look inside yourself. I don’t think that’s a comfortable place for us as a society — we don’t go there,” Bullough says. “(Beckett) does what few artists can ever do: he puts a piece of his soul up there. He starts from a place that other writers barely even touch. He’s plumbing the depths of his own soul.

“You don’t usually go for a night of entertainment to look inside yourself. That’s the last reason you go to the theatre. You don’t want to have to stare into your own demons.”

Yet there’s more to the play than a story of two sad, lost souls waiting for Godot. The production was originally billed as a tragicomedy, and Bullough says his interpretation retains the play’s humorous aspects.

“What the audience can expect is a good time,” he says. “I think it’s going to be funny.  We’re also trying to be really simple in our approach to it. We’re not trying to put anything on it. We’re trying to make sense of it without being flashy.”

And although the subject matter behind Waiting for Godot is deep and possibly disturbing, Bullough acknowledges a light touch is key when it comes to parsing any kind of dramatic “message.”

“You could be hit over the head with a bunch of truisms, but you don’t come to the theatre for that to happen. You want to be entertained and you want to be moved, and preaching at someone for two and a half hours is not the way to do that.”

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