Waiting for Godot - Theatre Royal Haymarket

[jm25]

This didn't work for me. Ben Whishaw was the highlight but I didn't find this funny, engaging or even vaguely interesting. Spent considerably more than £25 on my ticket back when this went on sale and regretting it now!

[lou105]

Also there tonight. Dean Graham was on as Lucky, I assume for the first time as they pulled him forward in the bows.

[andrew]

Went a week or so ago, my perspective is from someone being a long time aware of the play but never having seen it, I was still in school I think during the McKellen/Stewart run and not smart enough for Beckett at that point. Or at this point, perhaps. I enjoyed elements of this, but probably fall into the camp of reviewers describing it as a bit flat and lifeless. Clearly productions gone by have leaned into comedy more and that probably carries one through the more interminable sections, they do allow themselves a bit of comedy but keep it fairly straight. As a Godot-virgin it is interesting to pick through what it may all mean. I did think a lot about how good Wishaw is on stage, and he and Msamati are both good in their own ways, but it's not a night for the ages this one. If I'd seen the play before I definitely wouldn't rush back to see this version.

[david]

 My last double show day of my holiday kicked off with an afternoon visit to the TRH. WFG had always been on my need to see list (having never either studied it or seen it on stage) so when this production got announced it got booked early one with a ticket up in the gods due to the pricing structure at the time. Thankfully with dynamic pricing kicking in, I’m glad I got a rear stalls seat upgrade for £10 more to make the visit that much more comfortable. Watching it I found lots to like about it but I certainly didn’t come away thinking it was a classic production or if it was an open ended run to rebook.

With all four main guys on at the performance, I certainly found them all entertaining and watchable. Act 1 only really got going when Eden and Slinger appeared to thankfully add some much needed adrenaline and humour to the piece which up to then really seemed slow paced and I definitely felt it dragged up to this point. Eden’s manic speech in Act 1 was certainly a scene stealing moment and a definite highlight. Act 2 seemed much better paced with Whishaw and Msamti hitting their strides with the comedy much better and i found it better paced as a result. The Eden / Slinger pairing was for me the much stronger pairing than the Whishaw / Masamati. 

As for the text, well I’m probably no better off knowing what Beckett was aiming for in his writing at the end of the play than I was when I first took my seat. It all seemed just completely random, though it was the four guy’s delivery of it that made it interesting and engaging to listen to. I did enjoy the absurdity of it all and the completely randomness of the piece.

It was a nice set from Rae Smith and lighting design from Bruno Poet. 

Having now seen it, it be interesting to watch other staged versions just as a comparison to see how this one compares to those. 

Rating - 3 ⭐️

[scotty8692]

4* for me I would say. As a Beckett 'fan', I already knew what I was getting. This production seemed to lean into the comedy slightly more than other productions I've saw. All actors were good-great to see Ben Whishaw on stage for a 3rd time, as well as my first time seeing Lucian Msamati on stage.

The stage production with Barry McGovern, Johnny Murphy, Stephen Brennan and Alan Stanford seems to be regarded as the definitive production, and there is the filmed version with those actors from 2001 on YouTube. Mods, please remove if not allowed! Thought it would be interesting if people wanted to see another version of it, seeing as we seem to have a few people that were new to this play before seeing the TRH production.