Waiting for Godot

 Waiting for Godot
Theatre for a New Audience
Polonsky Shakespeare Center
November 11, 2023 

Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

Theatre for a New Audience’s production of Waiting for Godot is dark, gritty, and haunting.  Under Arin Arbus’ direction, the poetry in Samuel Beckett’s writing emerges as the rhythms in the dialogue rise and play out between the characters.  Ms. Arbus creates honest moments of companionship and  comfort, as well as truthful instances of distress and suspense.  The cast delivers masterful performances, pulling the audience deeper and deeper into their endless waiting and mounting despair.

Estragon (played by Michael Shannon) and Vladimir (played by Paul Sparks) are waiting for Godot.  They know they are in the right location, by the tree.  Maybe it’s the wrong day.  How many days have they been there?  They think they see him coming, but it is Pozzo (played by Ajay Naidu) and his servant Lucky (played by Jeff Biehl).  Estagon and Vladimir pass the time with them, then Pozzo and Lucky leave.  A boy (played by Toussaint Francois Battiste) arrives with a message from Godot.  He will be there tomorrow. 

Michael Shannon & Paul Sparks
Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience.

Tomorrow arrives.  Estragon and Vladimir are waiting for Godot.  The tree has one new leaf.  Time is
passing.  Pozzo and Lucky return, but they are blind and dumb.  They do not recall having been there the day before, and neither does the boy when he returns with the same message from Godot.  Estragon and Vladimir debate what to do, then they wait. 

When you first enter the theatre, Michael Shannon is sitting on the stage as Estragon.  The theatre space fills with a strange quiet and heavy anticipation.  The waiting has already begun.  Time feels suspended through a lot of this production, giving the audience a visceral sense of one of Mr. Beckett’s themes in the piece.  There are also numerous biblical references connecting the characters and the waiting to a greater sense of existence. 

Jeff Biehl, Michael Shannon, Ajay Naidu, & Paul Sparks
Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

Paul Sparks and Michael Shannon are phenomenal together.  They have impeccable timing and a genuine bond that keeps the audience fully engaged.  Mr. Sparks’ Vladimir is highly physical, fidgeting and rapidly moving around the entire playing area, while Mr. Shannon’s Estragon is sedentary, weary, and unsteady on his feet.  

Ajay Naidu is energetic and antagonistic as Pozzo.  Jeff Biehl is discomfiting and mesmerizing as Lucky.  Their presence throws the rhythm and pace of the play into another realm.  All your attention goes to Toussaint Francois Battiste both times he enters as the boy.  Mr. Battiste embodies a different energy from the other characters.  He is the only one who has seen Godot.  He embodies a calm and certainty that the others are lacking. 

Samuel Beckett’s play has elusive and provocative existential and philosophical images and levels.  This production will engage you emotionally and leave you thinking.  Waiting for Godot is playing at Theare for a New Audience’s Polonsky Shakespeare Center through December 3. 

Domenick Danza