Vancouver East Cultural Centre
December 2011-January 2012
Directed by John Wright
Set & Costume Design by Marti Wright
Lighting Design by Conor Moore
Stage Managed by Joanne P.B. Smith
Assistant Stage Manager Belle Cheung
Production Manager Jayson McLean
Assistant Director Kathleen Duborg
CAST: Anthony F. Ingram, Simon Webb, William Samples, Adam Henderson, Zander Constant
photos by Tim Matheson
“. . . gripping . . . haunting . . . transcendent . . .”
David Rooney, Variety 2009
“. . . a brilliant piece of craftsmanship . . .”
Ben Brantley, NYT 2009
“. . . offensive and against all sense of British decency.”
Lady Dorothy Howitt, 1955
“Why people have to complicate something so simple I can’t make out.”
Samuel Beckett, 1955
Written in French in 1951 and first performed in English in 1955, Waiting for Godot is considered by some to be the quintessential absurdist drama. Any classical theatre company worth its salt must at some time undertake a production of this play. It is among the great works by which we should measure ourselves, as artists and as audience.
It seems to us that the religious, philosophical and societal issues that Godot raises are always in our collective awareness: Is there a purpose to life? Is there a God? Is there truth? Is it better to be alone? Do we have a duty to someone? Something? In fact we need Godot exponentially more now than we did in 1955, because we have exponentially more ways to distract ourselves from those questions we can’t easily answer.
Simon Webb
"[Simon] Webb is consistently funny, his working-class Gogo registering a range of incredulous deadpan looks at the incomprehensible ridiculousness of their moment-to-moment existence." Vancouver Plays
