Published November 2007

Newly formed Cally Productions are staging the bleakly comic masterpiece, Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett, at Trestle Arts Base in St Albans, from November 28th to December 1st. Jo Emery, the co-founder of Cally Productions who has also appeared with the Company of Ten and OVO, finds the play challenging yet fascinating. “It’s a play with multiple themes, layers, emotions, and moods, like a piece of music. It is however, a tragicomedy, so there is light and shade at the same time. Beckett was Irish, and with this play, we have tried to balance both the comedy and the tragedy, much like the Irish do in their approach to life. There are influences from the comedy greats such as Laurel and Hardy, and Charlie Chaplin which inspired Beckett when he wrote this play. Within this context we see the plight of the human condition, woven into the comedy.”Who is Godot? This is one of the most frequent questions from an audience. Some have postulated that Godot is God, but Beckett’s famous retort (to Sir Ralph Richardson) refutes this claim, “If by Godot I had meant God, I would have said God and not Godot”. It is not a play about Christianity either, as Beckett also said that he “was not interested in any system.” It is rather a poetic lament about a world without any divinity, a world in which we wait and hope for something to give meaning to our lives, and relieve them of the absurdity of death. But we wait in vain and so life is rendered as meaningless as death, “nothing happens, nobody comes , nobody goes, it’s awful”. And so, to fill the time, Vladimir and Estragon engage in antics by turn comic, or pathetic, as they try to distract themselves until Godot comes. Ultimately Beckett cannot present us with any answers to the questions we seek from the play. He wants us to reach our own conclusions. He simply presents us with the chaos. We are left to make sense of it in our own, unique way. The action of the play is very simple; two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, are waiting for Mr Godot on a country road. They meet Pozzo and Lucky, two travellers passing through. A boy arrives as a messenger from Mr Godot. Night falls. The next day, they wait again. They meet Pozzo and Lucky again. The boy arrives again. Night falls again. Will Godot ever come?

PREVIEW HERTS ADVERTISER OF CALLY PRODUCTION’S WAITING FOR GODOT

presents

by Samuel Beckett

28 November - 1 December - 8pmTrestle Theatre Arts Base, St Albans

Box Office 01727 850950

www.callyproductions.com www.trestle.org.uk

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Jo directs WAITING FOR GODOT