Review: Waiting For Godot, Theatre Royal Haymarket starring Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati
08/10/2024
Waiting For Godot is a play I love; I studied it for A-level, so I'd buy tickets regardless of the casting, but the combo of Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati was definitely an added draw.
It is a play that tends to attract starry casts - I've seen productions with Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Hugo Weaving - I suppose it helps sell tickets for a surrealist play that isn't going to be for everyone.
Waiting For Godot is essentially a play in which nothing happens. Twice. But it's also a play in which everything happens and that's one of the reasons I like it.
Estragon/Gogo (Lucian Msamati) and Vladimir/Didi (Ben Whishaw) are waiting for someone called Godot. Who Godot is and why they are waiting for him is open for interpretation, which is another reason I love the play.
"Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful!" says Gogo at one point. But that isn't strictly true, Pozzo (Jonathan Slinger) and his servant Lucky (Tom Edden) come along. Twice.
What passes during the encounter is, again, open for interpretation.
It might not seem like it on paper, but Waiting For Godot is a funny play, and this is a funny production. It is not rolling around in the aisles funny, but it draws out the amusing absurdity and its inherent truth. It's irony and silliness.
There are bubbles of laughter, particularly during the second half when Didi and Gogo's routine becomes familiar.
The play's subtle layers require a lot of the actors to deliver, and Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati didn't disappoint.