Samuel Beckett was well known to be fussy about how his Waiting for Godot is produced. Heaven knows what he would make of the production now streaming from The New Group in association with John Ridley’s Nō Studios and Frank Marshall. For that matter, heaven knows what the vigilant Beckett estate will make of it.
Beckett, writing in French and supplying his own translation, specified the barren land on which forlorn tramps Estragon and Vladimir pass time until the elusive title figure shows up to alleviate their travails. The inflexible playwright was even a stickler about the number of leaves hanging from the one scrawny tree he wanted displayed on the “country road” he economically calls for.
He was so proprietary about his two-act work that a forgiving spectator might understand why any director plotting a revival might want to bring his own vision to the work habitually appointed as its maker demanded.
Not so fast. Waiting for Godot is, in this reviewer’s estimation, the great play of the 20th century. (That’s unless it comes in second to Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author.) But even if there isn’t universal agreement on that assessment, it will likely be conceded that the tragicomedy isn’t to be fooled around with.
Nevertheless, let’s put the best face on how director Scott Elliott has decided to shake up the material. Without knowing for certain what was going on in his usually fertile mind, I’m going to guess he was thinking about the current global conditions and figured he would do a Waiting for Godot that reflects the pandemic. Indeed, he may even have concluded that Beckett’s magnificent entry could be taken as a metaphor for the world’s citizenry hoping every day that the pandemic’s end will arrive. Then it doesn’t.
The first specific giveaway is the bandana mask that Vladimir (Ethan Hawke) wears after Estragon (John Leguizamo) is introduced full face. This Estragon, wearing a New York Yankees cap, does tie on his bandana later.
Furthermore, the Zoom approach, requiring Vladimir and Estragon to be taped in separate places rather than together, results in both characters—as well as oddball passersby Pozzo (Tarik Trotter) and Lucky (Wallace Shawn)—occupying their own spaces. These are not located on the same stretch of rugged unknown territory but in sheds dimly lighted by windows out of which that tree pathetically grows. In other words, as with so much of the world’s population over the past 15 months, Beckett’s world-weary men are living in (pandemic-indued?) isolation.
Okay, giving Elliott his due (which Beckett probably would not), this might work. It doesn’t. In their cramped quarters Hawke (is there a better stage actor available these days?) and Leguizamo (who also has notable stage resources) are asked to do all sorts of irritating business. That Hawke even plays guitar isn’t a problem, but so much of what else he does to pass his time (and the spectators’) is busy-busy. If it’s intended to be amusing, uh-uh. The same for Leguizamo.
And this goes on for just over three hours, which means that eventually lines of dialog leap out ominously—lines like “You find it tedious,” followed by “Somewhat” and “We are bored to death,” followed by “There’s no denying it.” Onlookers will be nodding in agreement, if not shouting “You said it.”
Granted, Hawke and Leguizamo play their final speeches with exquisite angst (that is, for viewers who last that long.) Trotter is fine, and Shawn’s performance, which mostly consists of various perplexed reactions, is one of his best. As The Boy, Drake Bradshaw is charming at bringing word that Godot is delayed for yet another day.
By the way, costume designer Qween Jean has Hawke in a jacket on the back of which is the word “Dodo.” This is, of course, an amalgamation of the often-invoked nicknames Didi for Vladimir and Gogo for Estragon. Suggesting the two comport themselves as dodos may be the best joke of the entire enterprise.
In short, this Waiting for Godot is wide of the mark. While watching it, I thought if it had been my first exposure to Beckett’s play, I would hardly have judged it possibly the best of the century but much farther down the list. Best to regard this outing as a directorial trip that tripped.
Reviewer’s addendum: Hawke’s recently published and extremely strong fourth novel A Bright Ray of Darkness is his version of Jack O’Brien’s Henry IV Parts I production, in which he appeared as Hotspur. What, pray tell, might he make of this experience where he to wax novelistic about it?
Waiting for Godot was streamed beginning May 6, 2021. Information and tickets: thenewgroup.org
