Beckett: Waiting for Godot

Explores the impact of Waiting for Godot on the theatre and its many interpretations.

David Bradby (Author)

9780521595100, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 15 November 2001

268 pages, 12 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 1.5 cm, 0.386 kg

'David Bradby provides the first comprehensive survey of the key production of Samuel Beckett's most renowned dramatic work and a refreshing assessment of the genesis of the play within its cultural contexts … the book sits usefully on the shelf of anyone with an interest not only in Beckett's theatrical achievement, but in issues of play authorship and the interfaces between actors, directors, designers and a playscript or its author. The writing would attract and interest the general reader as well as the scholar, student, actor, director or designer and the work as a whole represents a useful sourcebook and a fascinating and readable account of the history of this most celebrated of plays.' Studies in Theatre and Performance

Waiting for Godot is a byword in every major world language. No other twentieth-century play has achieved such global currency. His innovations have affected not only the writing of plays, but all aspects of their staging. In this book David Bradby explores the impact of the play and its influence on acting, directing, design, and the role of theatre in society. Bradby begins with an analysis of the play and its historical context. After discussing the first productions in France, Britain and America, he examines subsequent productions in Africa, Eastern Europe, Israel, America, China and Japan. The book assesses interpretations by actors such as Bert Lahr, David Warrilow, Georges Wilson, Barry McGovern and Ben Kingsley, and directors Roger Blin, Susan Sontag, Sir Peter Hall, Luc Bondy, Yukio Ninagawa and Beckett himself. It also contains an extensive production chronology, bibliography and illustrations from major productions.

List of productions
Introduction
1. Beckett before Waiting for Godot
2. Waiting for Godot - the play
3. The first production: Theatre de Babylone, January 1953
4. The first productions in English: Arts Theatre, London, August 1955 and Pike Theatre, Dublin, October 1955
5. Early productions in the United States: Coconut Grove, Miami, January 1956 and Actor's Workshop of San Francisco 1957
6. Beckett's own production: Schiller-Theater, Berlin, March 1975
7. 'Fail again. Fail better.': productions in Avignon, Prague, Munich, Holland and Japan
8. Godot in political context: productions in Belgrade, Sarajevo, South Africa, Palestine, Quebec, Paris and China
9. Productions at the end of the twentieth century
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG], Literary studies: from c 1900 - [DSBH], Theatre studies [AN]