Waiting For Godot
Waiting For Godot
By Samuel Beckett
Starring Bret Carson, Alan Sincic, Cory Boughton
Relevant Theatrics at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Orlando FL</strong>
Godot has still to arrive, but the wait provides a blank canvas for whatever philosophical issues are clouding your mind. Vladimer and Estragon meet as they always do at the dead tree near the stinking bog out on the road that’s rarely traveled. As the day unfolds, the minutia of life ties them together: bad fitting shoes, poor food, and an empty feeling that life is useless and not worth living. But one overriding goal in Valdimir’s life keeps them vertical and breathing – he’s waiting for Godot, a mysterious guy with a bad delivery record. Others pass by, officious Pozzo (Boughton) passes through with his abused servant Lucy (Kim Luffman) only to return the next day blind and broken and not sure why. But Godot never appears, instead sending a messenger every day to promise arrival within the next 24 hours. Godot is a like a very evil FedEx.
Notionally a comedy, there were titters in the vanishingly small audience even as Carson used all his physical comedy and Sincic mused as ironically as he could. They were a good team, with Carson focused on the bunions and starvation of the moment and Sincic always looking at the longer plan. Boughton’s abusive and arbitrary treatment of his fellows made for an uncomfortable comedy, even as a drawn and pale Luffman clung with tired desperation to the stool and picnic basket of her boss. Despite the muted reaction, this was quite well done and included one of the best existential trees I’ve seen (courtesy of Stephen Ricker). But with only seven people in the seats, the cold room could have held a funeral.
There’s plenty of room for interpretation in the play, and with Beckett long gone we are free to our own flights of fancy. The read I took home is Pozzo plays the earthly church, promising a last judgment that’s now about 401764 days late. It eats the food, it ignores the poverty, and it abuses it members with arbitrary tasks and duties. Meanwhile Vladimir and Estragon clearly need help, yet Pozzo offers little except a used bone and sage advice. You may have your own read, but this is the one play to view that makes you a true student of the stage. Every time you see it you receive a small medal to wear on your uniform.
For more information including show times and tickets, visit http://www.relevanttheatrics.org
