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Seek and ye shall find

Customer Rating:

When this play was first performed in London, Harold Hobson, drama critic of The Sunday Times said it was 'a conversational necessity'. Being a mere child at the time I though this meant it was good. I sat through it with my girl-friend, and it seemed to me to be complete gibberish. What does it mean? she asked. I'll tell you at the end of the performance, I replied, hoping for a denoument. I couldn't tell her, because to me it was meaningless. How many critics here tell you what it means? Last year, aged 70 and professor of literature, I saw it again in a lauded production at the Barbican. I sat through the first half becoming more and more angry. Becket, I thought, is making fools of us all. At the Interval I walked out, and didn't come back. The play's message is simple: Most of us believe in God. We wait to eventually meet him. But there is no God. And we are wasting our time. Shakespeare said it so much more briefly and poetically in Macbeth. Life 'is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.' Waiting for Godot signifies nothing. If you search for meaning I'm sure you'll find it. If you take the play at its face value, it's nonsense. Twice.

Stark and bewildering

Customer Rating:

I read this play more than ten years ago for a course in contemporary drama. At first I was completely lost, considered the dialogue pointless, and found it incredibly boring. However, following a visit to The Gate Theatre in Dublin, my opinion of the play changed entirely - the dialogue's pointlessness made sense finally, the existentialism of the play became comprehensible, not to mention the subtle dark humour. I started to see the brilliance of the play - if we are bored, lost, bewildered, uncertain, unhappy, and at the same time, find humour in this, then the play has achieved its purpose (as I see it). In other words, it reflects the condition of human life as Beckett chose to describe it, and not only this, it succeeds in drawing us deeply into his description and invites us, as reluctant as we may be, to live it through our reading. A brilliant, if rather discomforting reflection on the pain, whispers of humour and ultimate meaninglessness of human life.

The Emperor's not wearing any clothes...

Customer Rating:

Like the godawful works of Pinter that followed, Beckett's "Waiting For Godot" is a masterwork in the field of pretentious garbage. This play is neither funny nor entertaining; the ludicrous dialogue frustrates, the characters try their hardest to prove themselves wholly unreal, and, as that famous review quoted from the lines of the play itself, "nothing happens." Yet today "Godot" is hailed as a masterpiece of modern drama owing to its apparently being a well of deep hidden meaning and symbolism. When one looks at a blank wall for long enough blotches and other irregularities gradually become noticeable to the eye; hell, some might even claim to see a face in said blotches. But let's be honest, it's just a blank wall. Similarly, "Godot" is a wholly unsatisfying waste of an hour and a half, saved by a horrifyingly large number of people's determination to see clothes on the Emperor when really there are none.

It will definitely come tomorrow

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I have always been tempted to write the sequel, "The arrival of Godot" However like Fermat's last theorem I fear the world is unlikely ever to see this masterpiece. Godot is a very naughty boy who refuses to come in on time. And at his age (at least 53) he should know better. Get ready for the telling off of all time when he does turn up! This is a great play, mostly for what it does not say, rather than what it does.

Beckett exposes an aspect of human nature in a ruthless and harrowing way

Customer Rating:

It is perfectly true to say there are very few characters in this play. Vladimir and Estragon, two tramps, are the main characters of the play. The only other characters are Pozzo, Lucky and a boy. There are no changes of scenery or setting. Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for Godot. The audience never learns who Godot is or his significance for Vladimir and Estragon. The play in two acts is simply about the tramps waiting for Godot. You may be thinking, this sounds exactly like a waste of paper and ink. In my opinion, Waiting for Godot is a great play, though not exactly an example of what I usually read. Consider this: utter boredom. Isn't life in itself boring? After a certain age as we progress into adulthood, we become bored with life. Quoting Solomon, 'there is nothing new under the sun' (Ecc 1:9). Too many of us fall into a routine - life becomes a tiresome routine. Many of us, right up to when we're forty years old, are waiting for our lives to begin. If we take a moment to step back and view how we've conformed to our repetitive patterns of life, it's as frightening as two tramps having nothing to do, nothing to talk about, simply waiting. How many of us find it difficult to find topics to talk about with acquaintances? We've all subconsciously wondered what it would be like to have absolutely nothing to talk about or do, desperately looking for something to pass the time, but Beckett dares to expose this in a stark and unapologetic way. I found this play has a lot of relevance to modern society. So, fantastic play but prepare to be depressed by truths of life. All in all, a great book for the open-minded. I have found that only way to get true meaning and hope in life is through Jesus.