Have you read...Waiting for Godot?

On November 19th 1957, a small theatre company brought Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot to San Quentin prison. The play had, during its first English language performance in London two years earlier, been greeted with boos, groans and walkouts. Critics too slammed the play, dismissing it as boring and nonsensical. But at San Quentin Waiting for Godot struck a chord with the prisoners, with one inmate so affected by it that he was inspired to set up a drama workshop inside of the prison. While regular theatre goers in London were confused and discomforted by its lack of drama and progression, and critics bemused by its lack of fit into any interpretive framework, the receptive prisoners recognised the human quality of the play and sympathised with the characters' plight.

Perhaps the most apt description of Waiting for Godot is literary critic Vivian Mercier's summary of it as 'a play in which nothing happens, twice'. In Act I, we are introduced to Vladimir and Estragon, two tramps who are waiting by a tree for a mysterious man named Godot to meet them. We watch the pair as they try to fill the time prior to Godot's arrival, but struggling to maintain coherent conversations and keep their temper with one another. Two other characters, Pozzo and his apparent slave Lucky, show up midway through the act and occupy the two tramps for a while, but soon depart to leave Vladimir and Estragon once more waiting alone. A messenger boy then arrives to ensure the pair that Godot is on his way, convincing them to wait overnight in the same spot. Act II then follows this exact same pattern, with the tramps once more waiting all day for him and Godot once more failing to make an appearance.

Though now critically and academically recognised as one of the great works of 20th Century literature, Waiting for Godot still polarises opinion among first time readers and viewers. Those who look to apply meaning and interpret the events and symbols in the play, such as the tree that sprouts leaves in Act II or the mysterious boy who makes two uncanny appearances, will find their efforts frustrated. Beckett has constructed the play in such a way that although it seems to invite interpretation, with almost every line charged with the suggestion of meaning, it subsequently resists coherence by going back on itself and contradicting what it had initially seemed to establish. It therefore is more rewarding to accept that though possessing a structure that we're used to applying a typical literary interpretation, the content of Waiting for Godot itself has no consistent meaning in the traditional sense.

But what can we make of a play that has no meaning? Its rambling nature may frustrate but it does not alienate, for despite it's unconventional structure Waiting for Godot taps into something inherently human. The characters' situation jumps rapidly from tragic to comic, as poignant speeches and accounts of beatings and abuse are juxtaposed with slapstick humour from the Music Hall tradition. At times, such as the last lines in which the pair resolve finally to 'go' only to remain standing rigidly in the same spot, tragedy and comedy are fused absurdly into one. As the title indicates, above all Waiting for Godot is a play about waiting and how it is inherent to the human condition, for both prisoner and the free man. There has been much debate concerning whether Godot represents God, a rich emperor, Pozzo, the superego, etc. etc. but the truth is that no-one knows who or what Godot is or what they are waiting for; all they know is that they feel compelled and resigned to wait for it to come.

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