THE WAITING IS OVER FOR BECKETT PLAY AT CHESTER THEATRE

Final rehearsals are underway at a Chester theatre for the staging of a classic play by acclaimed Irish playwright Samuel Beckett.

Regarded as Beckett's finest work, "Waiting for Godot" will be staged by Chester Little Theatre from Saturday 4th May - Saturday 11^th May at 7.30pm. The play which will be directed for Chester Little Theatre by Jonathan Johnston, tells the story of Two wandering tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, who wait by a lonely tree to meet up with Mr Godot, an enigmatic figure in a world where time, place and memory are blurred, and meaning is where you find it. The tramps hope that Godot will change their lives for the better. Instead, two eccentric travellers arrive, but they have their own concerns and aren’t interested in helping the tramps. The results are both funny and dangerous.

"Waiting for Godot" is Beckett's reworking of his own original French-language play, "En attendant Godot", and is subtitled  "a tragicomedy in two acts". The original French text was composed by Beckett between 9 October 1948 and 29 January 1949. The premiere, directed by Roger Blin, was on 5 January 1953 at the Théâtre de Babylone in Paris. The English-language version premiered in London in 1955. In a poll conducted by the National Theatre in 1998/99, it was voted the "most significant English-language play of the 20th century".

Speaking about directing the play for Chester Little Theatre, Jonathan Johnston said:

"I first came across Waiting For Godot at college in 2009. I hated it when I read it but by the time the play was on its feet, I thought it was one of the funniest, quirkiest plays I’d been involved in! When I was asked to direct the play, I certainly wasn't going to miss the opportunity to revisit an old favourite, and, what better way to make my directorial debut at Chester Little Theatre! It is considered a masterpiece of existentialism, in which Samuel Beckett explores the futility of man’s hope. For me, the play questions what life is without purpose. If Godot doesn’t turn up then the characters purpose is not fulfilled. Can we live a full and meaningful life without purpose? Is life wasted without fulfilling our purpose? Whilst we may not get any answers during the course of the play, I do think it's something worth thinking about."

Full details of "Waiting for Godot" can be found at: 

www.chesterlittletheatre.co.uk 

...where tickets can be booked online.